Health secretary favors focused lockdowns, curfew to control new spike in COVID cases

This March 11, 2021 article by Vivienne Gulla for ABS CBN reports on a new statement by Health Secretary Francisco Duque III who said that instead of widespread lockdowns, curfews and focused lockdowns may be the “order of the day”. He says, “The correct response to the rising cases is a more effective localized, more focused lockdowns. We can no longer allow widespread lockdowns because our economy will be severely affected. So many are unemployed and are having difficulties right now. They can no longer endure this.” [spoken in Tagalog and translated in original article].

Sec. Duque blames the increase in COVID cases to public noncompliance and presence of variants in the country.

Editor’s Note: Sec. Duque is wrong, focused protection, not focused lockdowns is the correct response [see The Great Barrington Declaration: Life must return to normal for the healthy, the vulnerable must be protected]. Also, it is very clear that most people are complying with the health standards [see Google data showing Filipinos are staying at home]. Filipinos are wearing masks and face shields, are washing their hands, are physically distancing, and are staying home during lockdowns. Why are COVID cases still rising despite these draconian measures? [A short answer is that the Philippines has not stopped using high cycle thresholds, see New York Times: More experts questioning RT-PCR testing to understand what false positives are].