Multimedia

The second half of the year just commenced. We have finally closed the door on an awful first half that saw the coronavirus pandemic wreak havoc on our communities and our economy. There seems to be no end in sight. Last week, the total number of virus infections reached 10 million. And while more than half have recovered, more than 500,000 have died from the Covid-19 disease.

The recent spike in the number of coronavirus cases in the Philippines should prompt our health authorities to reassess their strategy in battling the pandemic. Learning from the experiences of other countries like China, for one, will intelligently guide us in significantly containing the virus outbreak and reopening the economy at the same time, with lesser risks.

We expected the discouraging April unemployment figures given the lockdown imposed across the Philippines from March until now. The data simply stresses the need to reopen the economy further, but with caution.