Duterte says his management of the coronavirus pandemic has prevented millions of infections
The President of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, defended his management against the coronavirus pandemic in the Chinese city of Wuhan on Monday, stressing that it helped prevent up to 3.5 million infections.
Speaking to the state of the nation before Parliament, Duterte urged all Filipinos to cooperate in the fight against the corona virus and in efforts to restore a narrow economy.
“When the pandemic hit us, I decided to prioritize life over other considerations,” he said at a joint Senate and House meeting with few parliamentarians.

“According to experts, government intervention prevented between 1.3 and 3.5 million infections,” he emphasized. “Even if the numbers were much lower, they would have been worth the sacrifices we made to me,” he said.