Palace says lockdown not a failure as number of COVID-19 cases breaches 1,000

ABS-CBN News

MANILA - Malacañang on Sunday said the continuous increase in the number of confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases in the country does not mean that the government&#x27;s enhanced community quarantine is a failure.In a statement, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said the increase in the number of cases is merely due to the increase in the number of people who got tested.&quot;We beg to disagree. As we have previously stated, the reason for a few reported cases of confirmed cases two weeks ago was because there was a lack of testing kits to ascertain the number of those afflicted with the disease,&quot; he said.&quot;As the manufacture and supply of testing kits become available, plus the establishment of additional COVID-19 testing centers, there are more people being tested now than before, necessarily the hitherto unknown cases of COVID-19 have surfaced hence the galloping increase in number,&quot; Panelo added.Panelo also said that there could have been more cases of COVID-19 in the country if the government did not implement the enhanced community quarantine.&quot;Had the enhanced community quarantine or partial lockdown not been imposed, the number of the COVID-19 cases could have been staggering, for the simple reason that with unrestricted movement of the population, with each individual being a potential carrier, the coronavirus would have an untrammeled leap-frogging from one person to another,&quot; he said.As of Sunday, the Philippines has a total of 1,418 COVID-19 cases, with 71 fatalities and 42 recoveries.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/multimedia/infographic/03/17/20/tracking-covid-19-cases-in-the-philippines">Tracking COVID-19 cases in the Philippines</a></li></ul>The Philippine government imposed a lockdown on Luzon until April 12, suspending public transportation and ordering millions to stay at home, to curb the spread of COVID-19.

Malacañang on Sunday belied observations that the continuous increase in the number of confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases in the country is proof that the government's enhanced community quarantine is a failure.

Malacañang on Sunday belied observations that the continuous increase in the number of confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases in the country is proof that the government's enhanced community quarantine is a failure.

Palace says lockdown not a failure as number of COVID-19 cases breaches 1,000 | ABS-CBN

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Palace says lockdown not a failure as number of COVID-19 cases breaches 1,000

Palace says lockdown not a failure as number of COVID-19 cases breaches 1,000

ABS-CBN News

Published Mar 29, 2020 08:44 PM PHT

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Updated Mar 29, 2020 09:35 PM PHT

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Malacanang

Salvador Panelo

enhanced community quarantine

COVID-19

coronavirus

Luzon lockdown

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