AT the end of March, after two weeks of the Luzon-wide quarantine and state of calamity declared in the rest of the country, the Philippines, with a population of 107 million, had a total of 2,084 cases, with 88 deaths and 49 recoveries.
Italy, population 60.48 million, now holds the record of COVID-19 deaths – 12,428, followed by Spain, population 46.66 million, with 8,189 deaths, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. Because of the deaths in these two countries, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Europe is now the epicenter of COVID-19, which began in China in December, 2019.
After Italy and Spain, the countries reporting the most coronavirus deaths thus far are China (3,309), the United States (3,170), France (3,024), Iran (2,757), United Kingdom (1,408), Netherlands (864), Germany (583), Belgium (513), Switzerland (295), Turkey (168), South Korea (163), Brazil (159), Sweden (149), Portugal (140), Indonesia (122), Austria (108), Canada (89), Philippines (88).
WHO has now said the next epicenter of COVID-19 may be the US, because of the thousands of cases that are now being reported in that country, led by New York State, New Jersey, California, Louisiana, and Illinois. On the first day of April, the US death toll passed 3,700. And hospitals all over the country were asking the federal government for aid in the form of additional health personnel, beds and facilities such as ventilators, and protective equipment for doctors and nurses.
The White House task force on the epidemic said the number of cases in the country is expected to rise steeply in the next two months and they fear the deaths may reach 100,000 to 240,000. The total number of COVID-19 cases in the whole world today is estimated at 800,000.
In the face of the deaths in Italy and Spain and now the fears of US officials, we must be thankful that the cases and deaths in the Philippines are considerably much lower. The WHO recently cited the Philippines as one of nine countries where the spread of COVID-19 “can be contained.” WHO particularly cited the early decision of the Philippines to enforce a quarantine or lockdown of Metro Manila and the rest of Luzon.
The quarantine severely limited the movement of millions of people. They, however, readily accepted the restrictions, especially the call for “social distancing” – avoiding any physical contact with other people and maintaining at least one meter of space – and wearing face masks to keep out possible virus in droplets in the breath of infected persons.
The quarantine has now lasted two weeks. It has caused considerable difficulties for all, especially poor folk who, even before the restrictions, were living a precarious hand-to-mouth existence. Two more weeks are left in the quarantine ordered by President Duterte. We would welcome a return to normalcy at the end of the period, but it will all depend on the casualty figures along with developments in other countries, the US in particular.
