VICE President Leni Robredo on Monday expressed her dismay over the lack of mass testing efforts by the national government to trace and detect COVID-19 positive patients.
Robredo took to her Facebook account to emphasize that the country, as of today, has reached the highest daily tally of new COVID-19 cases, citing data from the Department of Health (DOH).
The Vice President claimed that the surge could have been curbed had the government extended mass testing and contact tracing to its full capacity.
“Staggering numbers today – 22,366 new cases!! With a positivity rate of 27.5% and 65,237 tests conducted, we can safely presume that the real number of new cases is so much more than these,” she wrote.
Robredo exclaimed that without efficient mass testing, many deemed asymptomatic will remain strolling around the streets without any idea that they have already been infected with the virus which might eventually be transmitted to others.
‘Kahit para na tayong sirang plaka, uulitin pa din natin – we are simply not testing enough!!! Gusto [kong] sabihin, ang daming gumagala na Covid positives na hindi nga nila alam na infected na pala sila. Pag hindi nila alam, lalong dadami lang ang mahahawaan pa nila,” she stressed.
“Although this sounds as if we are a broken record, it should still be repeated – we are simply not testing enough! I would like to say that many COVID-19 positive individuals still stroll around, oblivious if they have been infected. If they are not aware, it would increase the chance that they would infect others,” she stressed.
According to Robredo, contact tracing must be strengthened to detect probable COVID-19 patients. She added that the index cases could not be identified due to the scarcity of a centralized contact tracing system that makes both the national and local governments unable to stop the transmission chain.
She further reminded that the failure to provide mass testing and contact tracing causes the continuing surge of the COVID-19 cases which also bring woes to hospitals.
“Noong nasa 14k-15k cases tayo, sobrang hirap na makakuha ng hospital vacancies. Ngayon na 22K, lalo na,” Robredo said.
“Kung hindi natin aayusin trabaho natin, ilang buhay pa yung mawawala?” she lamented.
Robredo, since the onset of the pandemic, has been proactive on her personal social media platforms in delivering suggestions to combat the crisis.