By NewsDesk  @infectiousdiseasenews

Health officials in the Philippines say the country  is beginning to flatten the curve. According to Health Undersecretary Dr. Maria Rosario Singh-Vergeire, “All of our sacrifices this past week have not gone to waste. We are already seeing signs that we have flattened the curve. That is to say, because of our cooperation and cooperation with government initiatives, we have begun to slow down the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 so that our hospitals and health systems cannot be overwhelmed”.

She continues: “Our fight is not over yet. Besides strengthening our national testing capacity, we will continue to focus on quarantine protocols, proper sanitation, physical distancing, the use of PPEs such as masks, and other preventive measures”.

Dr. John Wong, an epidemiologist with the Inter-Agency Task Force’s (IATF) sub-technical working group on data analytics said the data shows that the doubling time, or the time it takes for a metric to increase two-fold, has increased significantly for both new cases and deaths.

This means that the rate of increase for both these numbers has slowed down. Dr. Wong stated that although we will not be seeing fewer cases just yet, he is confident that as we ramp up testing nationwide, the overall strategy against COVID-19 is working— buying the health system more time until a vaccine or cure is developed.

“When we relax the ECQ, we will see another surge of cases,” he said. “We have to observe all the mitigation measures, that’s how we delay the appearance of a third wave.

“Right now, we are protecting each other by self-quarantining at home. We have to remember that we have to protect ourselves, protect our families, and protect each other by observing a one-meter distance, washing our hands, and wearing protective equipment.”

To date, the Philippines has reported 10,610 total COVID-19 cases, including 704 deaths.