ILOILO Representative Janette Garin appealed to all Filipinos to continue observing health protocols as the COVID-19 pandemic is still affecting the country.

“Naiintindihan ko na marami na ang pagod magsuot ng face mask, marami na ang hindi sumusunod sa health protocols dahil sa ‘pandemic fatigue’, marami na ang panay labas thinking there is no COVID-19 anymore. But this is not true. The pandemic is still real and it continues to threaten our economy and our way of living,” Garin said.

Garin, a former Health chief, issued the statement following reports of the Department of Health on the local transmission of omicron subvariant.

The DOh recently announced that the country now has a local transmission of the highly transmissible Omicron subvariant BA.2.12.1 which is about 25 percent more infectious than previous variants.

As of May 17, there are 16 local cases of SARS CoV 2 subvariant: 12 in Puerto Princesa City, two in Metro Manila and two in Western Visayas.

“Alam na nating hindi pa tapos ang pandemya, alam nating mas nakakahawa ang sub variant na ito, kaya habang maaga pa ay pigilan na ang pagkalat nito. Kaya kailangan natin patuloy na mag-ingat at sumunod sa health protocols,” Garin said.

According to Garin, there are 54.5 million Filipinos that should be given booster shot however, only 13.7 million availed of the vaccine.

“Kung ganito ang magiging pace ng ating pagbabakuna, maaring magkaroon na naman tayo ng surge sa mga susunod na buwan,” Garin warned.

She reminded the Filipinos to wear mask even in workplace especially if experiencing colds or cough inside the house.

“Mag-mask kahit sa bahay upang maiwasang makahawa ng mga kapamilya. Mag-sanitize, Maghugas ng kamay at mag-alcohol. Lumayo sa mga senior citizens at immunocompromised kapag may sintomas. Hygiene is very important. Ipractice pa rin ang social distancing mas nakakahawa ang subvariant na ito ng COVID kaya mas maiiwasan ang hawahan kung hindi magkakadikit,” she added. By Jester Manalastas

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Jester P. Manalastas