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Makeshift barriers are erected on a street in a town under blockade amid a surge in coronavirus (COVID-19) infections, in Manila, the Philippines, on March 12, 2021. REUTERS / Eloisa Lopez
MANILA, Philippines – The government is reimposing the same rules in its response to the pandemic, but expects a different outcome each time, Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon lamented Tuesday, criticizing the imposition of new closures in the country in an attempt to curb the spread of COVID-19.
“We do the same thing over and over again and expect a different result. We keep doing prolonged lockdowns over and over again and we hope it will have a different result, ”Drilon said in an interview on ABS-CBN News Channel.
Over the weekend, Malacañang announced that Metro Manila and four adjacent provinces (Rizal, Bulacan, Cavite and Laguna) will once again be under Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) from March 29 to April 4 due to the increase in COVID-19 cases. in the country.
It was in March of last year that the government first placed Metro Manila and other areas under ECQ, the strictest quarantine classification imposed by the government.
Drilon, however, stressed that such restrictions must be accompanied by intensive testing, tracking, treatment and teaching, or what he called the “4T.”
“We are failing in all four areas,” he said.
‘Serious insufficiency’ in the evidence
According to Drilon, the Philippines lags behind other countries in terms of testing capacity.
“Based on the findings of the World Bank, we are testing, we are conducting 17 tests for each case of COVID … In Vietnam, they are testing 4,200 for COVID [case], in Laos, more than 2,000 tests, in China, 1,853 ”, he said.
“So you can imagine the disparity … You can see the great insufficiency and because we are extremely inadequate, we cannot track because we do not do enough testing,” he added.
He said proper testing is “critical” for effective contact tracing.
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