President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has made a renewed push for the COVID-19 vaccine booster as he inspected the rollout in Pasig City on Monday.
“My motive for going here this afternoon is very simple. I am looking if the booster rollout of which we are conducting here is smooth flowing and outstanding,” the President said.
“We don’t have any means of fighting this but the vaccine. We must not wait for the numbers to grow and be harder for us to go to our work and go out of our own houses,” he added.
Marcos was joined by the Department of Health officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire, Pasig Mayor Vico Sotto, and other city local government officials.
“Stay safe like before, be safe, follow the protocols, wash your hands and wear your facemasks until we can say that the Philippines is now Covid-free,” the President added.
As this developed, five provinces in the Visayas and Mindanao have recorded above 20 percent or “very high” COVID-19 positivity rates in the recent week, independent monitoring OCTA Research Group said Monday.
OCTA Research fellow Dr. Guido David, in a tweet, said Aklan, Antique, Bohol, Capiz, and Negros Oriental all logged more than 20% one-week positivity rates from July 23 to July 30.
Positivity rate refers to the percentage of people who were found positive for COVID-19 among the total number of individuals tested.
Capiz posted the highest positivity rate in the Vis-Min regions as of Saturday with 51.2 percent a huge jump from the 30.6 percent on July 23.
Meanwhile, Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo has tested positive for COVID, which prevented him from attending his first ever ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (AMM) as the head of the Department of Foreign Affairs in Cambodia this week.
“This would have been my first ASEAN engagement in my capacity as Secretary for Foreign Affairs, so it is unfortunate that my absence happens at this important time,” he said.
Manalo said he contracted the virus “early this weekend.”