President Rodrigo Duterte has urged Filipinos to "prepare for the worst" of the pandemic as coronavirus variants drive surges in infections in parts of the globe.
The COVID-19 pandemic is "getting hotter and it is getting more dangerous" because of the variants, the President said in a taped address aired Tuesday. India and Brazil are among countries battling fresh infections.
"We do not have a guarantee that the vaccines should forthcoming on time, na walang maraming mamamatay (that many people won't die). And if it is more serious mutant, variant, we'll just have to prepare for the worst," said the President.
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Referring to the virus, the President said: "Pag nag-mutate ito, nag-iba ang anyo, we will have a problem now with discovering new vaccines and we do not have a guarantee that the vaccines will be forthcoming on time na walang maraming mamamatay."
The variant first found in India, said to be behind the record COVID-19 surge in the South Asian country, was monitored in the Philippines, along with other variants of concern. The country now has 12 confirmed cases of that variant with the technical name B.1.617.
"We continue to prepare and recalibrate our preparedness in accordance with each propagation. Kung medyo papalapit nang papalapit na at marami nang tinatamaan then we will go full blast in making everthing operational."
