SINABI ng World Health Organization (WHO) na ang “vaccine optimism” at ang prisensiya ng mas nakahahawang variants ng coronavirus ang ilan sa mga salik na nakapag-ambag sa tumataas na bilang ng kaso ng coronavirus disease (COVID-19) sa Pilipinas.

Ayon kay WHO Country Representative to the Philippines Dr. Rabindra Abeyasinghe, dahil sa “vaccine optimism” maraming tao ang nakampante at hindi na sumunod sa ipinatutupad na health protocols. “The optimism that the vaccines brought have resulted in a decreased compliance with the public health measures,” pahayag ni Abeyasinghe sa isang press briefing nitong Biyernes.

“It has meant that it has opened room for the virus transmission to increase,”dagdag niya.

Giit pa ni Abeyasinghe, tungkulin ng pamahalaan na paalalahanan ang mga tao sa sumunod sa mga health protocols kahit pa nga nagsimula na ang vaccination program sa bansa.

“One thing probably was that, with the possible arrival of vaccines at the local government level, there was a big focus on planning for vaccine rollout. And maybe for a few weeks in that effort there was not enough attention paid to actually strengthening the implementation of the minimum public health standards,” aniya.

“There was optimism that the vaccines will come, that the economy can bounce back,” saad pa ng opisyal. Pagbabahagi pa ni Abeyasinghe, muling pinatunayan ng COVID-19 infection “we have to be very careful.”

“We have to do everything that we need to do — to ensure that we suppress this infection on the longer term. There is a lesson there that even as we rollout vaccines, we cannot afford to ignore the fact that we need to comply with the minimum public health standards,” patuloy pa niya.

Isa pang salik na nakadagdag sa paglobo ng kaso ay ang deteksyon ng iba’t ibang variants ng coronavirus, ani Abeyasinghe.

Sinabi ng WHO na ang mga variants na ito, “have been associated with reports of increased transmissibility.”

“Their presence may also be pointed to why we are seeing increased transmission.”

Sa ngayon natukoy sa Pilipinas ang tatlong variants: ang B117 na unang natukoy sa United Kingdom, ang B1351 mula South Africa, at ang P1 variant na nadetekta sa Brazil.

Binigyang-diin din ni Abeyasinghe na ang paglobo ng COVID-19 cases ay nakita rin sa ibang mga bansa.

“This is something that is not unique to the Philippines again. This is a phenomenon that has been witnessed in many other countries that started vaccine rollout,” aniya.