[EDITORIAL] Is it enough?

Is the Philippine government implementing the right approach in resolving and managing the spread of the new coronavirus in the country?

Last night, President Rodrigo Duterte addressed the nation and explained his decision to put the entire Metro Manila on lockdown. The confirmed cases rose to 52 in just four days. The health department immediately raised the Code Red alert level to Sub-level 2.

The confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the country went up by dozens overnight. It’s not magic. It is simply a manifestation of the government’s failure to monitor the suspected cases using immediately available test kits which was later exposed to a dismal total number of 2000 kits only. Perhaps, the health department even to some point classified the information related to the cases.

The physical movements and activities of those confirmed cases were never managed prior the confirmation. Is there now an assurance that in other places like Iloilo City there are indeed zero cases when it is a fact that there are no available test kits on hand?

Now that Manila is on lockdown, where is the next hotspot of the virus? How will we know when the most that the President did was to assure the nation that the government is in control of the problem and yet it cannot even implement a zero entry into the country of flights from countries with confirmed cases especially China?

Imagine restraining the movement of Filipinos from and to Metro Manila yet allowing the entry of Chinese into the capital of the country?

What are the specific guidelines being instituted in order to manage the effect of the lockdown to businesses?

Are there budgets being downloaded to local government units in order to help manage the very scarce resources available in fighting the virus and its effects among the people?

While it is true that Filipinos must sacrifice and give in to what the government is doing, the question remains – is the government doing enough?