Charles Teves
The Department of Health (DOH) reported Sunday that there were over 16,000 new recoveries, but the total confirmed cases is just 6,000 short of breaching the 200,000 mark.
The COVID-19 response is not showing any visible improvements, and could even get worse as rumors suggest President Rodrigo Duterte is in a Singaporean hospital getting treatment for COVID-19 or for liver cirrhosis.
Duterte’s plan as of now is to just wait for a vaccine which made the public feel even more hopeless than ever before.
The government’s decisions in this pandemic have been questioned many times. As an example, the National Task Force against COVID-19 is lead by chief implementer Carlito Galvez Jr., a former army general who has unquestionable experience in fighting terrorist groups but not diseases, while other countries’ task force leaders for the coronavirus are mostly experts on infectious diseases.
Galvez most recent concern is the “alarming increase” in suicide cases amid the pandemic.
Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra told reporters on Saturday that Galvez “is seeking the help of our churches and spiritual leaders in providing counsel and guidance to their members and followers who are undergoing depression due to loss of employment or livelihood, anxiety of being afflicted with or dying from the dreaded disease, loneliness arising from isolation, and lack of hope for a return to their normal lives”
“I share Sec Galvez’s concern and respectfully request our spiritual leaders to bring this much needed message of hope to our suffering countrymen in order to stave off more incidents of self-destruction,” Guevarra added.
The National Center for Mental Health (NCMH) previously said that since mid-March, they’ve been receiving 300 to 400 calls a day.
In 1985, Galvez graduated from the Philippine Military Academy which is known as the “Sandiwa” Class. He has a master’s degree in project management from the University of South Wales, Australia and went through various military and management trainings which gave him the opportunity to attend Harvard University.
Germany, one of the most successful nations in combating the COVID-19, has Chrisitan Drosten, a renowned virologist who is called the country’s “coronavirus-explainer-in-chief” and “the coronavirus pope” at the helm of their efforts.
He is one of the co-discoverers of SARS-associated coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and one of the foremost experts on coronaviruses.
Spain’s COVID-19 task force leader is someone with knowledge of diseases.
Dr. Fernando Simón is an epidemiologist who serves as the Director of the Coordination Centre for Health Alerts and Emergencies of the Ministry of Health.
He was the spokesman for the special committee on Ebola virus disease in Spain in 2014 and is known as Spain’s top scientist. However, he received major backlash after he was caught surfing in Portugal amid the surging of confirmed cases in Spain.
At the onset of the pandemic, the US relied on the words of infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci. Fauci is now dubbed as ‘America’s doctor’ but has been subjected to controversy previously for appeasing the liberals and the democratic party.
Tucker Carlson of Fox News called Fauci a ‘fraud’ for doing so when he testified in Capitol Hill early August.
He is a member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force.
Fauci has also exhibited behaviors of hypocrisy when he was caught wearing a face mask below his chin during a baseball game just right after he advised people to always wear one.
The situation in the Netherlands could have been worse had it not been for Jaap van Dissel, a virologist who saw a rise in fame because of the coronavirus. He advised the Third Rutte cabinet, which is the cabinet of the Netherlands since 2017 to implement an “intelligent lockdown” that has proven to have helped in preventing the further spread of the disease.
He also explained the reasons behind health measures to the public.
It is only lately that Australia has experienced a surge in confirmed cases, but relatively speaking, they are doing a lot better than other nations as the country only has 517 COVID-19 related deaths.
The country’s success can be attributed to “the public face of Australia’s fight against COVID-19”, Dr. Brendan Murphy.
He currently serves as the Secretary of the Department of Health and gives regular press conferences to the media about the pandemic.
Taiwan’s response to the pandemic has been considered one of the best, if not the best. The government and the citizens constantly work together to prevent the spread of the virus, along with the spreading of information.
The country is thankful that it has Dr. Chen Shih-chung, its Minister of Health and Welfare, who has an approval rating of over 90 percent.
