Duque walks back 'second wave' remark after garnering criticism
MANILA, Philippines — Health Secretary Francisco Duque III walked back his earlier remark that the Philippines was experiencing a second wave of the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) days after some areas re-opened the economy and workers trooped back to work.
Speaking at a hearing held by the House committee on health, Duque conceded after his earlier pronouncements drew massive criticism.
At an online Senate hearing on Wednesday, Duque said that the feared second wave had been in the country since March, which was when the enhanced community quarantine was first implemented.
He also insisted that the country had already "flattened the curve" in terms of COVID-19 cases.
DOH Sec. Duque concedes: Phl still in 1st major wave of #COVID19PH community transmission @PhilippineStar
— Edu Punay (@edupunay) May 21, 2020
However, Duque was also careful to point out that technically speaking, and in an epidemiological sense, there was a small, minor wave in January with the three cases involving Chinese nationals before zero cases were initially recorded in February.
A litany of public officials—from Senate lawmakers to fellow Cabinet secretaries—rejected Duque's earlier statement, pointing to the lack of mass testing.
“Can you please explain to us, how can we say that we have already flattened the curve when we have not tested enough? Until we test enough, isolate enough and treat enough, this virus will continue to spread,” Sen. Francis Pangilinan asked Duque in Filipino during the same hearing on the government’s COVID-19 response.
Though the country's testing capabilities have been enhanced since the onset of the outbreak, calls for comprehensive mass testing continue to mount after Malacañang admitted that no plans of the sort were in place and that they would instead leave it to the private sector to handle.
Even the Palace, which earlier defended the health official's handling of the coronavirus outbreak back in February, contradicted Duque's earlier pronouncement.
Back then, Duque was also quoted as saying that the Philippines was a middle-income country and was thus not among the poor countries that the World Health Organization said were ill-equipped to deal with the new pathogen.
Duque's health department on Thursday afternoon recorded 213 new cases of the new pathogen, bringing the number of active cases in the country to 9,588. — Franco Luna with reports from Gaea Katreena Cabico and The STAR/Edu Punay
Related video:
- Latest
- Trending
