MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang yesterday expressed optimism that the COVID-19 pandemic would end soon after three groups have expressed interest to conduct vaccine clinical trials in the Philippines.
“Good news: it seems that the pandemic is about to end,” presidential spokesman Harry Roque said in Filipino.
“According to the Department of Science and Technology, there are three players that submitted requirements to the Food and Drug Administration indicating their interest to conduct clinical trials in the Philippines,” he added.
The groups that expressed interest to conduct COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials in the country are Gamaleya Research Institute of Russia, Janssen of Belgium and China’s Sinovac.
Roque also cited reports that the China National Biotech Group is now in the final stage of its clinical trial and that many Chinese citizens have been immunized.
The government is planning to spend P10 billion for coronavirus tests, medicines and vaccines.
President Duterte yesterday presided over a Cabinet meeting to discuss ways to reopen the economy while strictly enforcing health and safety standards.
He is scheduled to deliver a public address on the government’s pandemic response on Wednesday, Roque said.
Among the topics that were expected to be discussed during the meeting was the proposal to increase public transportation capacity to ensure that more people can report to work.
Roque said jeepneys would be allowed to ply roads if they are road-worthy.
“All jeepney units with certificate of roadworthiness are allowed to operate. If they are not allowed to return, that means, they are not road worthy. But the problem is how we can further increase the capacity of the transportation sector. Fifty percent of the economy can be reopened but only 30 percent of transportation can operate,” he said.
Lockdowns defended
The Department of Health (DOH) said yesterday that the lockdown of communities being implemented by the government is in line with the recommendations of the World Health Organizations (WHO).
“The recommendation of the WHO is consistent with the DOH promoting the Prevent-Detect-Isolate-Treatment-Reintegration (PDITR) or gate-keeping indicators (surveillance, contact tracing, etc.) that quarantine alone is not sufficient,” the department said in statement.
The DOH noted that such lockdowns are in effect because the country is capacitating the local government units (LGUs) and the health system to be able to deal with the pandemic.
“We need to ensure the capacity of the LGUs to implement these gate-keeping actions. That is why the IATF (Inter-Agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases) has set targets to ensure that all LGUs are capacitated and would be able to fulfill all gate-keeping indicators before the year ends,” it added.
The DOH made the statement following the call of the WHO for world leaders to stop using lockdowns to control the spread of COVID-19.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said at a press briefing that government officials are not exempted from protocols for people who travel from one specific area to another.
“We have these protocols in place which state that when you go to a specific area, if needed, there should be symptoms screening,” she claimed.
Those who have symptoms, she underscored, will have to be quarantined and tested for COVID-19. – Sheila Crisostomo