Strict isolation policy prevented 100,000 COVID-19 infections – Galvez

Carlito Galvez Jr.

MANILA, Philippines – The head of the national action plan against COVID-19 said Tuesday that the government’s aggressive isolation policy had prevented more than 100,000 coronavirus infections.

Carlito Galvez Jr., head of the National Task Force against COVID-19, said the government was looking to quarantine more hotels in Metro Manila, Central Luzon and Calabarzon.

He said that isolating 24,538 COVID-19 patients helped slow the spread of the coronavirus in all three regions.

Exponential growth avoidance

“If we couldn’t [remove COVID-19 patients] from home quarantine, we would have had an exponential growth [in cases] three or four times… The number of cases would not have been reduced in Metro Manila, ”said Gálvez, noting that Metro Manila had 88,109 cases on August 14, which were reduced to 53,754 by September 14.

On Tuesday, the Department of Health (DOH) recorded 3,544 additional infections, bringing the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases to 269,407.

Of the additional cases, 3,177 became ill between September 2 and 15, while 254 became ill in August. Metro Manila reported the most new cases, 690, followed by Cavite (305), Rizal (201), Negros Occidental (173) and Bulacan (98).

The DOH reported that 395 more patients had recovered, bringing the total number of recoveries to 207,352, and that 34 more patients had died, bringing the death toll to 4,663.

Recoveries and deaths left the country with 57,392 active cases, of which 87.9 percent were mild, 8 percent asymptomatic, 1.2 percent severe, and 2.9 percent critical.

Of the recently reported deaths, 29 died this month, three in August and one in May and one in April. Thirteen of the deaths were from Metro Manila, five from Calabarzon, three from the Cagayan Valley, three from central Visayas, two from central Luzon, Bicol, and northern Mindanao, and one from western Visayas, eastern Visayas, Zamboanga, and the Autonomous Region of Bangsamoro. in Muslim Mindanao.

P4.5B to convert hotels

Gálvez said his task force had P4.5 billion in the second coronavirus relief measure for quarantining hotels.

“We can isolate 128,000 COVID-19 [patients] in hotels. We are making arrangements with the Department of Tourism for all two and three star hotels to go into quarantine.[s]. The four and five star hotels would be for stays, ”he said.

The Philippines is participating in human trials of vaccine candidates for COVID-19, including drugs from Russia and China.

It is also negotiating supplies with pharmaceutical companies and has faced demands for reservation fees from some Western drugmakers.

Reservation fee

In a televised speech Monday night, President Duterte criticized those companies for their “profit, profit, profit” mentality.

Mr. Duterte promised not to pay the reservation fees, saying the lawsuit was “silly” and a “scam” that would violate Philippine procurement law.

“There is no vaccine yet, there is nothing definitive and you want us to make a reservation by depositing money. You must be crazy, ”he said. “[T]The procurement law of the Philippines, this country, does not allow you to buy something that does not exist or will still be produced. It is a very demanding law and you always have to take into account prosecution and going to jail. “

–With reporting by Jovic Yee and Julie M. Aurelio

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