Palace: Government coronavirus response improving

Despite the continuous increase of COVID-19 cases in the country, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said the government response to coronavirus the pandemic improved and saved “thousands” of lives.

“We are improving when it comes to the battle against COVID-19,” Roque said at a press briefing.

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He added that the health department had increased its number of testing, and only five in every 100 persons tested have turned out positive for respiratory illness.

The fatality rate also slowed down, and only less than 50 percent of the intensive care unit beds, isolation beds, ward beds, and mechanical ventilators are being occupied, he added.

The coronavirus case doubling rate, Roque said, is now seven days. This rate makes an area qualified to be placed under the more relaxed general community quarantine (GCQ).

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“Hindi po takot ang ginamit – siyensiya po, mga datos na nagligtas ng libu-libong buhay (It’s not by sowing fear – it’s science backed with data that has saved thousands of lives),” Roque said.

Citing data from Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez, Roque said the World Bank had lauded President Duterte for effectively saving “100,000 lives” through his “decisiveness.”

“They said if we did not impose a lockdown, 100,000 people would have died,” the spokesman said.

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“Now, many parts of the Philippines are under GCQ and the more relaxed MGCQ (modified GCQ),” he added.

Roque also rejected accusations that the government has used a militaristic approach to dealing with the coronavirus crisis.

“We do not have a military solution. We just used the capability and experience of the military officials to bring public health solutions faster to our countrymen. If the government did not do anything, hundreds of thousands would have died just like in other countries,” he said.

“Our solution is a public health solution. What is the public health solution? Social distancing, being homeliners, keeping healthy and proper hygiene.”

Roque added that based on the Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey, 84 percent of Filipinos believed that the community quaratines were “worth it.”

Also read: SWS survey: 83% of Filipinos say life got worse in past 12 months

“Again, let me put on record that conservatism is important at this point of pandemic because lives matter; and as the SWS survey shows, people agree to staying at home,” Roque said.

“We want to achieve a zero transmission, but we are far from attaining that because many cases are being reported every day. Our appeal is until we don’t have a medicine or vaccine, stay healthy, stay hygienic, observe social distancing and wear masks,” he added.