PHL urged to adopt ‘endemic’ strategy for COVID-19

THE TRANSITION to treat the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) as “endemic” would lift consumer confidence that could support economic recovery, an economist said on Wednesday.

Jonathan L. Ravelas, chief market strategist at BDO Unibank, Inc., said he supports a COVID-19 prevention approach that consists of following minimum safety standards as more of the economy reopens.

“You cannot push the economy when you’re partially closed. So that’s the problem, we need to further reopen the economy and normalize so that government can provide that,” he said at a forum on Wednesday.

He said a strategy that treats COVID-19 as “endemic” would focus on hygiene and preventative health instead of lockdowns, which has hampered business activity.

His suggestion is similar to the strategy started by Singapore and followed by other countries like Indonesia and Malaysia to “live with the virus” instead of a pursuing “zero COVID.”

A recent surge in cases has led the Singapore government to reintroduce social distancing measures. Cases in Singapore surged to a record 3,486 cases on Tuesday, most of whom are asymptomatic or have mild symptoms, as the fully vaccinated population nears 80%

A survey done by scientific journal Nature found that most scientists think COVID-19 will become endemic, or a virus that will continue to circulate in parts of the world, noting that it could pose less danger over time. Factors that could continue to contribute to the spread of the virus include immune escape, waning immunity, and uneven vaccine distribution.

In the Philippines, COVID-19 cases went up by 9,868 on Wednesday, with a total of 112,807 active cases, data from the Health department showed.

Under 23% of the Philippine population has been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, the Johns Hopkins University COVID-19 tracker showed.

Mr. Ravelas said weak consumer confidence could only be addressed if more of the population is confident enough to go outside.

The “endemic” strategy, he said, would help stabilize employment figures, which he added could reach pre-pandemic levels in the next 24 months.

Business and consumer confidence continues to be low despite the available liquidity, he said.

“If there is no business confidence, they will not borrow. What we need to be able to do is to eventually reverse that.”

The Filipino-Chinese business chamber last month said one of the keys to recovery will be liquidity of sufficient volume to encourage a major boost in consumer spending.

The Federation of Filipino Chinese Chambers of Commerce & Industry, Inc., called on banks and the National Government to help “unleash liquidity” to fuel consumption.

Household spending in the second quarter rose 7.2% year on year after declining 15% a year earlier. The unemployment rate in August was at 8.1%, the highest since April’s 8.7%, government data showed. — Jenina P. Ibañez