We ‘slowed down’ the curve: Roque

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PRESIDENTIAL spokesman Harry Roque yesterday said the country had started to “flatten the curve” of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases while a large portion of the country was under strict enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) and continued when Metro Manila and other provinces and cities were upgraded to the more relaxed but still strict modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ).

Roque, in an interview with CNN Philippines, said the curve changed and was not sustained after the National Capital Region (NCR) further improved to general community quarantine (GCQ) where more people were allowed to go out and more industries and business establishments reopened to restart the economy.

He said more people had also started testing positive for COVID-19 after the government became aggressive in its testing of people and covered more people.

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Roque said that instead of continuing to flatten the curve, the country merely “slowed it down.”

“So we’ve not actually flatten the curve, we slowed it down tremendously as a result of ECQ and MECQ but with intensified testing and I guess with the reopening of the economy, the cases increased anew,” he said.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III on Wednesday caught everyone surprise with his pronouncement that the country has flattened the COVID curve. Later, he said the curve was only “bent,” and went on to change his tune hours later.

“I think what’s more important for people to realize is we have tremendously expanded our testing capacity,” Roque said as he tried to douse cold water on the public outcry caused by Duque’s confusing remarks.

Roque said the country is now testing 25,000 people a day, which the government hopes to raise to 30,000 a day. He said this would further spike the number of persons who would test positive of the coronavirus.

National Action Plan against coronavirus disease (COVID-19) deputy chief implementer Vivencio Dizon said what is important is the country’s continuing efforts to contain the spread of the virus and the people’s discipline, cooperation and compliance with the minimum health standards of washing hands, wearing ask and observing physical distancing.

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