Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 7) — Vice President Leni Robredo urged Filipinos to strictly observe health protocols as coronavirus case numbers are spiking again.
Robredo, in her weekly radio show Biserbisyong Leni, said the vaccines available are still limited to healthcare workers so Filipinos should remain vigilant.
She said others have grown impatient and become complacent because of the year-long lockdown imposed in the Philippines.
“Ang problema… sa tagal kasi ng lockdown, ang iba talagang inip na. Iyong iba naman, dahil medyo bumaba iyong mga kaso—‘di ba may mga araw na 1,000-plus na lang—medyo nagkampante na. Pero ngayon… nakakatakot kasi last three days, last three days, 3,000-plus iyong kaso,” the government official said.
[Translation: The problem is… we have been in lockdown for so long, so some people grew impatient. Others are becoming complacent because there were days when the number of cases was down to over 1,000. But now, it’s scary because we’ve been recording over 3,000 cases for the last three days.]
On Sunday, the Department of Health said 3,276 more people contracted the virus, breaching the 3,000-mark for three straight days.
By end-March, independent research group OCTA said the Philippines could witness as many as 6,000 new COVID-19 cases per day, with Metro Manila as the main driver behind the surge.
OCTA said new and more contagious virus variants may have caused the jump in new cases. It also warned that if the trend continues, the situation will overwhelm the capital region’s healthcare system.
READ: OCTA projection: Up to 6,000 new daily COVID-19 cases in PH by end-March
“Sana hindi maging kampante, kahit po may bakuna na. Kahit po may bakuna na, dahil hindi pa naman malawakan iyong rollout, huwag tayong parang mag-relax ng ating mga health protocols,” Robredo said.
[Translation: I hope you don’t become complacent, even if we already have a vaccine because the rollout is not yet widespread. Let’s not relax our health protocols.]
