PCM 0006 － Purposive Communication

COVID-19 was identified by the Department of Health (2020) as a

strain of coronavirus that caused severe pneumonia cases in China and was

transferred to different countries that resulted in a global pandemic. One of

the affected countries is the Philippines and according to the Department of

Health, as of March 16, 2021, there are 57, 736 active cases, 560, 736

individuals who recovered, and 12, 848 number of casualties with a total of

631, 320 cases in the country. It is transmitted through droplets of saliva,

discharge from the nose, and touching contaminated surface then transfer it

into the eyes, nose, or mouth (World Health Organization, 2020). As these

transmissions can happen easily, actions should be taken quickly as possible

for it not to spread more.

COVID-19 caused a global health crisis since 2020 and is still a crisis

up until this year. As per Dancel (2021), new wave of cases is possible in this

year, that is why government officials implemented different methods in

assessing this crisis, for example, lockdown, ban on liquor purchases, and

requiring quarantine passes. To add, Philippines still has half a hundred

thousand active cases, making it the 79th among 98 other countries in terms

of COVID response, while the government received a rating of 30.6 out of 100

in terms of their handling to this health threat (CNN Philippines, 2021). In the

same list, Philippines’ neighbors and co-developing countries, Vietnam and

Thailand are one of the leading countries that have dealt with the pandemic

effectively. What made these countries different from us is they responded

rather quickly and are equipped with this health crisis. According to Malhotra

(2020), Vietnam has already their long-term plan when in comes to public

health emergencies, learning from past outbreaks. While in Thailand, they

have been focusing on their healthcare system for 40 years, making them

prepared for any unexpected health emergency (UN, 2020). Contrarily,

according to the Department of Health (2020), Philippines did not even

conduct mass testing ahead of time because of insufficient resources, letting

other people who might have the virus be not isolated and might have

affected more people, making the transmission even worse. In comparison

with the other countries, New Zealand already declared its nation as virus-free

in early June and lifted almost all of its restrictions on year 2020, re-opened

businesses, schools, and workplaces (BBC News, 2020). On the report of

Bremmer (2020), Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan started to utilize

advanced technologies and industrial democracies in order to keep the

fatalities into minimum. Canada, on the other hand, relied on science and

focused on vaccination drives just like in Germany that procures vaccine.

Despite the country being in longest quarantine, and the virus should

be contained already as the citizens are also contained, the country is still

making progress, little by little. However, in this case, this small progress is

still affecting millions of Filipinos already, and the crisis should be handled

more effectively for the safety of everyone.

References:

BBC News. (2020, June 8). New Zealand lifts all Covid restrictions, declaring

the nation virus-free. Retrieved March 17, 2021, from BBC News

website: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-52961539

Bremmer, I. (2020, June 12). The Best Global Responses to the COVID-19

Pandemic, 1 Year Later. Retrieved March 17, 2021, from Time

website: https://time.com/5851633/best-global-responses-covid-19/
 Dancel, R. (2021, March 15). Philippines confronts alarming new wave of

Covid-19 infections with targeted curbs. Retrieved March 17, 2021,

from The Straits Times website: https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-

asia/philippines-confronts-alarming-new-wave-of-infections-with-

targeted-curbs

Department of Health. (2020). COVID-19 FAQS. Retrieved March 17, 2021,

from Doh.gov.ph website:

https://doh.gov.ph/COVID-19/FAQs#:~:text=The%20novel

%20coronavirus%20is%20a,COVID%2D19%20virus.

World Health Organization. (2020, January 10). Coronavirus. Retrieved

March 17, 2021, from Who.int website: https://www.who.int/health-

topics/coronavirus#tab=tab_1

Tan, L. (2021, January 28). PH ranks 79th among 98 countries in COVID-19

response. Retrieved March 18, 2021, from CNN Philippines website:

https://cnnphilippines.com/news/2021/1/28/COVID-19-pandemic-

Philippines-ranking-Lowy- Institute.html?

fbclid=IwAR2a77QBYctXKcYcqfSjmzQZzoSv1WEfUdUu

MSdqKAxqQX3hwXYECBIlHXQ

Malhotra, K. (2020, September 2). The key to Viet Nam’s successful

COVID-19 response. Retrieved March 18, 2021, from

Reliefweb.int website: https://reliefweb.int/report/viet-nam/key-

viet-nam-s-successful-covid-19-response

World Health Organization. (2020). Coronavirus. Retrieved March 18, 2021,

from Who.int website:

https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/country-case-
studies/thailand-c19-case-study-20-september.pdf?

sfvrsn=d5534183_2&download=true