​Lockdown watch (2)

PHILIPPINES - In Brief 05 Apr 2021 by Romeo Bernardo

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On Black Saturday, President Rodrigo Duterte extended the ECQ status of Metro Manila and surrounding provinces (“NCR+”) by another week to April 11. The decision was not unexpected considering experts’ prognoses that a one-week lockdown would not be enough to control the surge in covid19 infections. The first week of lockdown saw the growth rate in new cases slowing down but remaining above 25%, with health workers and facilities especially in Metro Manila overwhelmed by the steady stream of patients waiting to be admitted.The present crisis is a concrete display of what has kept us worried all this time and why we have not been able to shake off a more pessimistic outlook for the economy.[1] On the one hand are gaps in managing the pandemic that have been left unattended, most notably weak contact tracing that increases odds of more exposures, the state health insurance agency’s failure to keep hospitals whole that has reduced the private sector’s wherewhithal and incentive to expand facilities and staff compensation, as well as increased complacency all around in complying with basic health protocols. Moreover, it is not even clear at this time what role the more transmissible variants of the virus played in the latest surge. On the other hand is the delayed procurement and thus, slow rollout of vaccines with one chart we’ve seen showing the Philippines lagging even Bangladesh, Cambodia and Sri Lanka in vaccination. So far, the country has relied on China for almost 80% of its vaccine supply, a source that some fear may be put at risk following renewed diplomatic tension arising from the month-long unwelcomed presence of Chinese ships in an area within the Philippine...