STATEMENT OF SENATOR RISA HONTIVEROS ON THE HIGHEST SINGLE-DAY INCREASE OF 6,958 COVID-19 CASES

Hitting nearly 7,000 COVID-19 cases in one day should serve as a wake up call to the government. Maliwanag na hindi nako-contain ang pandemya at hindi bumabagal ang transmission ng virus. Kahit pagkatapos ng isang linggong MECQ sa Metro Manila, mukhang walang binago sa istratehiya ang gobyerno.

Sinabi na natin dati na hindi epektibo ang anumang lockdown kung wala itong kaakibat na health-heavy response. We need to test, trace, treat and isolate more aggressively. We need to make testing available and accessible to at-risk communities and 'hotspot' areas. We need to hire more contact tracers and put an effective system to it. We need to increase the capacity of our hospitals, protect our frontliners, and improve community-based care.

Sana wala na tayong maririnig na excuse o alternative interpretation ng datos mula sa gobyerno.

We have the longest lockdown in the world while still having the most number of total and active cases in Southeast Asia. Experts have been pointing out that the increase in our cases is not because we have been testing more but because there is no slowing down of transmission. Unless we take the data as they are and formulate a health-centered response towards the pandemic, cases will continue to soar, more Filipinos will get sick, and our health infrastructure could collapse.

The government should be reminded that we are dealing with people's lives and not mere statistics. Mula pa noong pinaka-unang kaso ng COVID-19 sa bansa, utang na ng pamahalaan sa mga Pilipino ang isang makatao at medikal sa pagtugon sa problemang ito. No more excuses. Failure to deliver is deadly.