Camarines Sur Rep. LRay Villafuerte has called on the government to complement its stricter mobility restrictions with an aggressive T3—test, trace and treat—drive as a more decisive strategy to contain the latest surge in coronavirus infections while it awaits the arrival of the bulk of the ordered anti-virus jabs for its vaccine rollout plan.
While the reimposition of stringent lockdowns—topped by the return of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in the National Capital Region and four neighboring provinces comprising the “NCR Plus” bubble—is expected to temper the number of cases that hit a record 10,000-plus daily tally last March 29, Villafuerte said “a more aggressive T3 drive alone is our best shot at preventing future infection surges, especially with the advent of more transmissible Covid-19 variants.”
Rapid antigen testing is a relatively inexpensive test in both point-of-care and laboratory settings to detect the SARS-CoV02 virus that is responsible for Covid-19. Test results are available in about 15 minutes, compared to the costlier real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) whose turnaround time usually takes 2-3 days.
Hence, Villafuerte welcomed the new government target of conducting 90,000 to 100,000 Covid-19 tests per day via the combined use of reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and rapid antigen tests.
From the daily average of 50,000 tests, the Department of Health (DOH) has increased the target to 100,000 after the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) authorized the use of antigen testing, especially in the “NCR Plus” bubble comprising Metro Manila, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna and Rizal where there has been an alarming spike in Covid-19 cases.
“Although the use of antigen testing is long overdue, this new policy is nonetheless a welcome development that will hopefully clear the way to the implementation of a more aggressive T3 strategy for the government to eventually temper, if not reverse, the fresh surge in coronavirus infections,” Villafuerte said.
Villafuerte also called on implementers of the government’s anti-Covid 19 response to green-light the use of antigen testing not only in ‘NCR Plus” areas but in all other parts of the country as well, to improve the testing, tracing and treatment capabilities of local government units (LGUs).
He stressed the urgency for the government to ramp up its mass testing as he pointed to a recent World Bank assessment report that the Philippines’ reliance on long lockdowns in lieu of a test-based strategy at the onset of the pandemic was responsible for the continued economic slowdown at a time when other economies in the region have started to recover.
The World Bank report revealed that the Philippines has conducted only 17 tests per confirmed Covid-19 case, as against 4,277 tests in Vietnam; 2,080 in Laos; 1,853 in China; 897 in Cambodia and 244 in Malaysia
The same report said that because of mass testing, lockdowns were not as severe in these economies, and gross domestic product (GDP) growth was at 2.9% in Vietnam, 2.3% in China, 0.4% in Laos, minus 3.1% in Cambodia and minus 5.6% in Malaysia in 2020. The Philippines posted a GDP growth of minus 9.5% last year.
Rapid antigen testing is a relatively inexpensive test in both point-of-care and laboratory settings to detect the SARS-CoV02 virus that is responsible for Covid-19. Test results are available in about 15 minutes, compared to the costlier real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) whose turnaround time usually takes 2-3 days.
Villafuerte pointed out that countries such as the United States (US), Canada, Italy, France and Germany have turned to the faster and cheaper antigen tests to avoid the undue delays in efforts to detect, trace and treat Covid-infected people.
In Camarines Sur, for instance, Villafuerte said the province has improved its T3 response by using antigen testing to examine more than 50,000 incoming people since June last year.
Last year, the provincial government purchased an initial 20,000 rapid antigen test kits from the Illinois-based Abbott Laboratories, using funds from the P6-billion Bayanihan Grant released by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) for the 81 provincial local government units (LGUs), equivalent to a half-month Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) share of every province.
The provincial government has likewise converted the newly built Camarines Sur Medical Center in Bula into Camarines Sur’s main Covid-19 isolation and treatment facility, making it one of the premier hospitals outside Metro Manila equipped with cutting-edge equipment such as portable digital X-ray machines, an ABG machine to check oxygenation levels, handheld ultrasound devices to check Covid-induced pneumonia, defibrillators to revive people with irregular heartbeats and a computer-based ECG to monitor the heart’s electrical signals of patients with heart conditions.
By using antigen testing whose results become available in just 15 minutes, Villafuerte said the provincial government has managed to do a better job of detecting at once who among those returning to Camarines Sur were infected with the virus and then sending these Covid-positive people for immediate isolation and treatment to any of the province’s over a dozen quarantine/treatment facilities.
Moreover, this Covid-19 isolation and treatment facility in Bula is equipped with about two dozen ventilators for the use of patients with critical symptoms of this virus.
This facility has a relatively big number of ventilators because the provincial government had used local funds to purchase 15 such machines—the single biggest one-time acquisition of ventilators by a provincial local government unit (LGU) in the entire country.
By using antigen testing whose results become available in just 15 minutes, Villafuerte said the provincial government has managed to do a better job of detecting at once who among those returning to Camarines Sur were infected with the virus and then sending these Covid-positive people for immediate isolation and treatment to any of the province’s over a dozen quarantine/treatment facilities.
The 50,000 tested folk include, he said, some 5,000 Camarines Sur natives whom the provincial government had helped return to the province during this pandemic under its pioneering Balik Probinsya program.
The congressman and Gov. Migz Villafuerte have initiated a back-to-the-province project even before President Duterte institutionalized the Balik Probinsya, Bagong Pagasa (BP2) Program by way of Executive Order (EO) No. 114 issued on May 6, 2020.
“Our use of antigen testing since June has afforded the provincial government an early detection and treatment of arriving or returning folk who happened to be sickened with Covid-19, which apparently explains why there has not been an exponential increase in caseload in Camarines Sur since then,” Villafuerte, a former governor, said.
Amid what has been tagged the country’s “second wave” of virus infections, Villafuerte said that members of the House of Representatives have all the more reason to initiate or take part in the public information drives in their respective localities on the coronavirus vaccination program following the latest tracking polls showing that a majority of Filipinos are not willing to get their shots against Covid-19.
“Legislators should make use of the almost two-month Lenten break of the Congress to initiate or take part in the information campaigns in their respective congressional districts about the government’s drive to immunize our people against Covid-19,” Villafuerte said, “especially now when the latest tracking polls reveal that three out of every five Filipino adults hesitate or refuse to get their jabs against the highly infectious coronavirus.”
He said “lawmakers should be at the forefront of the government’s efforts to convince adult Filipinos that the vaccines against Covid-19 are safe, that mass inoculation is necessary for us to contain the prolonged pandemic, and that achieving herd immunity via immunization is the only way for us to boost business confidence and consumer spending, which, in turn, could set off a quick and strong recovery from the coronavirus-driven global recession.”
Villafuerte said “legislators should take steps to help keep on track the government’s target to immunize 100% of the country’s adult population of about 70 million, more so now in the face of a two-week surge that jacked up the number of active daily cases to 15,310 last April 2.”
The government has placed the “NCR Plus” bubble under the stricter ECQ for a week till Easter Sunday, as the Octa Research Group projected the number of virus infections to soar to 12,000 to 13,000 daily this April.
While lauding Malacañang for taking concrete steps to (1) secure enough funding from both our overseas development assistance (ODA) partners and local sources for the purchase of enough Covid-19 vaccines, and (2) negotiate successfully for the purchase and delivery of over 140 million doses between March and December 2021, Villafuerte said such commendable Palace efforts would go for naught should many Filipinos remain hesitant or refuse to get vaccinated.
He said the government, the Congress and the private sector should work together in reversing the apparent vaccine hesitancy among Filipinos, especially at this time when the emergence of Covid-19 variants and the complacency or seemingly lax observance by some groups of social distancing and other safety protocols, are believed responsible for the ‘second wave’ of coronavirus infections in the country.
The Feb. 22-March 3 poll of Pulse Asia with face-to-face interviews showed that although nearly all adult Filipinos are aware of the vaccines developed against the coronavirus, 61% do not want to be vaccinated against the deadly Covid-19.
This sentiment among 6 out of every 10 respondents was reportedly shared by majorities across both socio-economic sectors and geographic areas, and most of those unwilling to get inoculated point to uncertainty about the vaccines as their reason for their refusal or hesitance to do so.
The Congress adjourned last March 25 for its Lenten break and will resume session on May 17.
President Duterte’s economic managers have secured P58.4 billion for the acquisition of vaccine doses enough to immunize 70 million Filipinos or 100% of the country’s adult population.
In separate televised briefings for President Duterte, vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. reported to the Chief Executive that 2,525,600 doses of anti-Covid vaccines already arrived as of March 29, and that another 140.5 million doses are due for arrival on a staggered basis between April and December 2021.