President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday said opening up the economy to its “pre-COVID-19 levels” was not yet an option to the government as infections continue to multiply nationwide.
“To open up the economy to pre-COVID-19 levels at this time is not an option because whatever good it can produce will only be gobbled up or be outweighed by the bad it will generate,” Duterte said in his fifth State of the Nation Address.
“Sometimes, haste makes waste. The recent upsurge of infections when we opened little windows of resumption of business is proof of that,” he added.
The Philippines saw an uptick in coronavirus infections after quarantine restrictions were loosened early in June in a bid to restart the economy amid the pandemic.
“In other places, they opened up too early too soon. America is one. China, well fortunately, it was arrested on time. Those who opened up and those who do not follow the protocols of at least the World Health Organization, they are suffering,” Duterte noted.
The president also said that “no nation on earth was really prepared for COVID,” but Asian nations Vietnam and Taiwan are among those lauded worldwide for bringing COVID-19 transmission under control.
The Philippines, meanwhile, has logged 82,040 cases with 26,446 recoveries and 1,945 fatalities, making it the country with the second-highest number of infections across Southeast Asia. -NB, GMA News
By JULIA MARI ORNEDO, GMA News
Source: Peso Economics
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