Gov't urged to boost COVID-19 testing, vaccination, provide enough 'ayuda'
The Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) has urged the government increase the number of daily coronavirus tests and vaccination to prevent the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

Bayan Secretary General Renato Reyes Jr. said the “most urgent” steps that the government must take are to provide people with enough “ayuda” or assistance, increase coronavirus testing to 150,000 tests per day, and raise daily vaccination to 750,000 jabs.
“Ang unang demand, para tiyakin na hindi magugutom ang tao (The first demand is to make sure that the people will not go hungry),” Reyes said in a Twitter post.
“Ang ikalawang demand, ay para malaman kung gaano na kalawak ang pagkalat ng virus at para mabigyang lunas ang mga nahawa. Ang ikatlong demand ay para protektahan ang populasyon (The second demand is to find out how widespread the virus is and to treat those infected. The third demand is to protect the population),” he added.
Day 2 na ng ECQ. Parang wala pa ring buong plano paano mapipgilan ang COVID bukod sa checkpoint at pananakot. Simple lang sana: 1. Ayudang sapat para sa lahat 2. 150,000 COVID testing per day 3. 750,000 vaccinated per day Ito ang pinaka-urgent na dapat gawin.
— Renato Reyes, Jr. (@natoreyes) August 7, 2021
The government is set to distribute financial aid to residents of Metro Manila affected by the two-week enhanced community quarantine (ECQ).
The Philippines has administered more than 710,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines in a single day last week, which is another record for the country’s inoculation campaign against the dreaded disease.
The Bayan official lamented the “high” positivity rate among those tested for the highly infectious virus in the country.
Gaano kahalaga ang testing? Kahapon Agosto 6 ay 52k samples lamang ang na-test. Nagresulta ito ng 9,908 na positibo, para sa napakataas na 20.47% na positivity rate. Ibig sabihin ay isa sa bawat limang nagpapatest ay positibo. pic.twitter.com/Z2DKAx72Tz
— Renato Reyes, Jr. (@natoreyes) August 7, 2021
“Ibig sabihin ay patuloy na kumakalat ang virus dahil kulang na kulang ang testing na ginagawa ng gobyerno (This means that the virus continues to spread because the testing done by the government is so lacking),” Reyes said.
“Dapat itaas ang antas ng testing, at gawing libre ito sa mga komunidad kung saan may mataas na kaso ng COVID-19 (The level of testing should be increased, and be made available for free in communities where there are high cases of COVID-19),” he added.