The Philippines must tame the coronavirus before April so that come national and local elections in May, this won’t become a superspreader event. Dr. Teodoro Herbosa, adviser to the IATF also recommends that the Commission on Election expands the absentee balloting to include senior citizens and those with co-morbidities.
Dr. Teodoro Herbosa, medical adviser to the Covid-19 task force, said the Philippines must reduce cases, now hovering at record highs, by April to ensure the presidential election would not become a “super spreader” event.
The country of 110 million people, which is battling one of Asia's worst coronavirus outbreaks, is holding an election in May for thousands of positions, from president down to hundreds of lawmakers, mayors and governors.
Roughly 67.5 million Filipinos, including 1.7 million overseas, are registered to vote in the elections, which historically have a high turnout.
"We need to push the virus cases down in April so when we have elections in May, people will be safe," Dr. Herbosa told Reuters.
"(It is) very important that we are able to tame this virus before May 9."
Absentee balloting
Herbosa recommends the Commission of Elections to expand the use of absentee balloting to include the elderly and people with health conditions.
Plans to extend the voting period to two days were shelved due to budget constraints.
The 2016 election saw a record voter turnout with 82 percent, with about 44.5 million people casting ballots, government data showed.
Omicron variant
Daily coronavirus infections have hit records several times this month, driven by the highly contagious Omicron variant, prompting a tightening of mobility curbs. On Monday, the Philippines started a ban on unvaccinated people from public transport.
The Philippines has recorded more than 3.24 million cases and nearly 53,000 deaths overall.
It has so far fully inoculated about half of its population, but many areas outside the capital region are falling behind.
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