THE National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) encouraged businesses to stay the course and continue their Covid-proofing efforts especially with the entry of the Delta variant in the country.
In a recent briefing, Neda Undersecretary for Planning and Programming Rosemarie G. Edillon said some of these Covid-proofing efforts include going digital and implementing alternative work arrangements.
Edillon said businesses can do this given that the arrival of the new variant comes at a time when vaccine supply has become more steady and could already help avert any surge in cases.
“Kung halimbawang maitutuluy-tuloy natin ito hanggang end of July, if possible malampasan pa natin itong mga record natin na ito ‘no, talagang [If, for example, we can continue this until the end of July; if possible we can surpass these records of ours,] we will [really] be in a different situation actually than we were let’s say [at the] beginning of April when we had that surge and kasisimula lang ng vaccination pautay-utay iyong pagdating ng supply [and the vaccination was just beginning and intermittent supply],” Edillon explained.
“This time nandiyan na iyong supply ng vaccines [the vaccines are there]. We have the systems in place and then like I said, the DOH [Department of Health] is actually coming up with this contingency plan on how to handle this surge capacity so that after this period sa awa ng Diyos magtuluy-tuloy na tayo ng ating recovery,” she added. [With God’s mercy, our recovery would continue.]
Edillon admitted that should more stringent mobility restrictions be imposed in light of the Delta variant, this will significantly affect the country’s economic recovery.
But until then, Edillon said, firms should continue innovating their business process while health system capacity improves. Neda said the health sector should also create plans to address the possibility of a surge “in case it happens.”
“At the same time, tingin namin malaking bagay din itong seven days na ito para mag-accelerate din iyong ating vaccine rollout natin so that hopefully we don’t get to the point na magkakaroon ng surge,” Edillon added. [We see these seven days as helping big to accelerate our vaccine rollout so that hopefully we don’t get to the point where there will be a surge.]
On July 23, Metro Manila was placed under general community quarantine with heightened restrictions until July 31.
The Metro Manila Council (MMC) was also prompted to re-impose longer curfew hours from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. starting on July 25 at the National Capital Region, after it was placed anew under general community quarantine (GCQ) with heightened restrictions.
MMDA Chairman Benjamin D. Abalos Jr. said that the adjustment of curfew hours from the previous 12 midnight to 4 a.m. was aimed to control the further transmission of the Delta variant.
Abalos noted that the Delta variant is highly contagious with an R Naught (R0), a measure of contagion or reproduction rate, of 5 to 8 “that may potentially trigger an exponential surge and local transmission in densely populated areas like the NCR.”