MANILA – Malacañang on Wednesday shrugged off criticism over the Duterte administration’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, citing the government’s efforts to slow down the spread of the virus.

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said the government has intensified testing, tracing, isolation, and treatment efforts amid rising Covid-19 infections.

Citing global data, Roque said the Philippines ranks third after India and China in terms of tests per million population, while the Philippines is second after Indonesia among Asean countries in terms of total tests conducted, with more than 10, 421,636 tests conducted, as of April 5.

“We have a weekly average of 52,565 tests from April 4-10, and reaching a high of 63,839 tests conducted last April 8, 2021,” he said in a press statement.

To further strengthen and improve the use of StaySafe.PH System, Roque noted that the government has also given its go signal to use automatic contact tracing through Smart Messaging System.

“We have strengthened and improved the use of Staysafe.PH system by using automatic contact tracing through Smart Messaging System and the supplementation of around 27,672 contact tracers in the NCR [National Capital Region] Plus Bubble,” he added.

NCR Plus, which refers to Metro Manila, Cavite, Laguna, Bulacan, and Rizal, was placed under the strictest enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) from March 29 to April 11 to curb the spread in Covid-19 cases.

More facilities and mobile hospitals, he said, are also being built to prevent Covid-19 patients with asymptomatic to mild symptoms from spreading the virus.

“On isolation, the Department of Public Works and Highways continue to build facilities and mobile hospitals to augment the need for quarantine facilities, including the activation of more than 1,700 beds, including the recently opened 110-bed capacity modular hospital in Quezon Institute and 300-bed capacity Temporary Treatment and Monitoring Facility in The Manila Times College of Subic, Inc.,” he said.

He said efforts are also being made to accommodate more Covid-19 patients with mild to severe symptoms that would require treatment.

“We have set up a One Hospital Command to better serve patients in need of hospitalization. Medical facilities have likewise given to increase its dedicated beds Covid-19 after the President directed the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation to settle its obligation with hospitals while mainstreaming telemedicine in local government units,” he said.

A total of 136 healthcare workers from the Visayas and Mindanao have been deployed to different facilities in Metro Manila to increase manpower in congested hospitals, he added.

Roque also pointed out that the government has administered Covid-19 vaccines to over one million Filipinos.

“We are the third highest in vaccine rollout in Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), with 1.2 million doses administered,” he said.

He reminded critics that rising cases is seen not only in the Philippines, but worldwide.

“Critics and the detractors of the administration have always something to say,” he said. “It is worth mentioning that the increase in the number of cases is seen not only in the Philippines, but it is reflected worldwide as per World Health Organization Country Representative Dr. Rabindra Abeyasinghe.”

He, however, acknowledged that “much more” can be done to step up on efforts to respond to the prevailing health crisis and enjoined the nation to unite to combat Covid-19.