Having Nearly 6,000 Deaths Is A Tragedy, But In Densely Packed Manila, This Is Nothing Short Of A Miracle

How we are really doing after six months of lockdown

- Dr. Edsel Maurice T. Salvana

Highest caseload in the Asia-Pacific! We have overtaken China and are now overtaking Italy! What a disaster! These are some of the headlines that we see describing the Philippine Covid-19 response. Is this truly an unmitigated fiasco? Or is there a silver lining?

Each country’s outbreak response has been unique. As we reach one million deaths worldwide, it is difficult to see an upside to the pandemic. What seemed like a good downtrend of cases for Europe is now being reversed by a “second wave” of infections and a new round of lockdowns are being triggered. The US has not yet clearly emerged from its first wave and cases are surging anew. South America has been an unmitigated disaster, with Brazil, Mexico, and Peru not being able to properly test their cases, using rapid antibody tests as an imperfect surrogate. India is on track to reach 100,000 deaths and may soon overtake the US in case numbers.

To put things into perspective, we must not forget the past. In January, China put Wuhan under lockdown. This should have telegraphed to most countries that the problem was bad. China, with its myriad resources, practically admitted it had lost control of the outbreak in a globally important city. What was puzzling to those of us in the medical field was why the World Health Organization (WHO) was not more forceful in raising the alarm. As people started dropping dead in Northern Italy, horror stories of people dying in their homes due to lack of hospital beds started circulating in the media.