(InterAksyon PhilStar) Health Secretary Francisco Duque III viewed the alarming one million recorded cases in the country as a chance to reach a million recoveries.

Duque’s optimism was not welcomed by online users who perceived the million cases as a sign of government incompetence.

The country surpassed the one-millionth mark on Monday, April 26 after 8,929 new infections were recorded, which brought the total to 1,006,428.

As of April 27, the new tally is at 1,013,618 COVID-19 cases. Of these, 925,027 are recoveries; 71,675 are active cases and 16,916 are deaths.

Despite the staggering figures, in an interview with CNN Philippines on the same day, Duque said the public can look at it with a more “optimistic lens.”

“The one million cases can be viewed also from a different angle that this will sooner or later bring in a million recoveries. We need to look at it from a more optimistic lens of getting a high recovery rate of more than 90%,” Duque said.

Duque then admitted that there are lapses in the government’s pandemic response. However, he remained hopeful that the situation will improve.

“We need to focus as a nation how we can further improve our pandemic response, there are always ways to do things better. I’m not saying we are successful. There are opportunities which we grab each time to do things better,” the health secretary said.