We have triumphed over COVID-19, Pinoys.
Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque declared this in his daily virtual briefing as the country recorded 36,438 cases yesterday, lower than the 40,000 patients projected by researchers from the University of the Philippines (UP).
“We won. We beat the UP prediction. We beat it, so congratulations Philippines. Let’s do it again in July. We are winning,” Roque said today in English and Filipino.
Read: It’s Not That Bad: Roque says WHO data showing PH has highest COVID-19 cases inaccurate
“Somehow we did not reach the 40,000 that was predicted by UP. So we were successful. We were able to slow down the disease,” he added.
“We are winning over COVID-19. Why? The number of people dying is getting lower. The rate of recovery is going up. Aside from that we also have the capability to treat the sick,” the spokesman said, and added that while there are 1000 cases that have yet to be validated, it wasn’t enough to reach UP’s projected number.
However, Roque’s declaration of victory might come too soon because the university predicted that there will be 60,000 cases by the end of July, with 27,000 new cases from Metro Manila and 15,000 from Cebu province. The UP team said that the rate of reproduction in the country is still 1.28, which is more than the ideal rate of 1. The reproduction rate is the number of people that one patient can infect in a susceptible population.
As of now, the Duterte government is busy battling the pandemic in Cebu City, which has been declared the new epicenter of the coronavirus. Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu, who oversees the government’s response in the city, said the enhanced community quarantine would need to be extended there due to the high number of patients dying from the disease.
