PH response vs. Covid-19 ‘major game-changer,’ Galvez says

PH response vs. Covid-19 ‘major game-changer,’ Galvez says By Lade Jean Kabagani

The country’s efforts to contain the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) and mitigate the impact of the pandemic is a major gamechanger, Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., chief implementer of the National Policy Against

Covid-19, said National Policy Against Covid-19 chief implementer and Presidential Peace Adviser Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. (Screengrabbed from Monday. RTVM) “Through these measures of how fast a single case can infect [minimum health standards], we have others. limited the ability of the virus to spread and prevented more local transmission “Ang ibig pong sabihin nito, from happening,” Galvez, also the napapabagal na natin ang pagkalat presidential peace adviser, said in a ng mga sakit, habang binibigyan natin virtual presser. ng pagkakataon ang ating healthcare According to the experts from pasyente (This means, we are slowing the University of the Philippines (UP) down the spread of the disease, while OCTA Research Team, the country is we are giving our healthcare system the starting to flatten the Covid-19 curve, opportunity to treat more patients),” with the continuous downward trend Galvez said. in the number of reported cases and system na pagalingin ang mga the decrease in r-naught—an indicator The positive development of

the country’s crisis situation “did not happen overnight,” Galvez said.

“It took a lot of careful planning and painstaking effort between the national government, local government units (LGUs), private sectors, medical front-liners, and the general public to achieve this milestone in our fight against the disease,” he added.

Galvez said the report from the UP OCTA Research team that the country has finally flattened the Covid-19 curve “comes as a breath of fresh air”.

“It means that all our efforts to contain the spread of the disease and mitigate its impact are finally bearing fruit,” he added, but reminded the public not to be complacent about this since there is still no vaccine for the disease. “The curve can go up again if we let our guard down. We do not want this to happen.”

The result of the UP OCTA research team’s study, he said, should inspire the country to improve what has been implemented.

“As the saying goes, there is still a lot of room for improvement. We must not rest on our laurels,” Galvez added.

He emphasized the vital role of the LGUs in the effective implementation of policies and action plans to halt the local transmission of the disease.

Galvez also lauded the participation of the private sector during the health crisis including 46

the establishment of more testing laboratories, quarantine facilities, and swabbing centers.

He also thanked the healthcare front-liners for their sacrifices. “It is because of your heroic efforts that we have been able to save more lives,” he said.

Healthcare improvements

Meanwhile, Galvez reported that the country now has a total of 117 accredited Covid-19 laboratories nationwide as of September 5.

Galvez said the government was able to process about 2,772,075 test samples from 2,601,281 individuals.

“Nahigitan na po natin ang ating target na dalawang milyong tests noong nakaraang Agosto at patuloy po anting pinapalakas (We have surpassed our target of two million tests last August and we continue to intensify),” he said, noting that it is the most number of tests conducted within Southeast Asia.

Further, Galvez said the government continues to intensify putting up more isolation facilities under the Oplan Kalinga program, which discourages home quarantine that usually causes local transmission within the household.

As of Sept. 6, Galvez said the country now has 20 mega treatment facilities and management facilities which can accommodate about 3,485-