Malacanang on Thursday said high COVID-19 cases have caused an increase in incidents of self-poverty, resulting in ''a heavy toll on income and job opportunities.''

In a statement, Acting Presidential Spokesperson Martin Andanar said the pandemic has effectively undermined the government's gains in poverty reduction.

He said the government was able to cut down poverty incidence in 2018 to 16.7 percent from 23.5 percent in 2015.

"However, the COVID-19 pandemic has taken a heavy toll on income and job opportunities as reflected in the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey, conducted April 2022, showing 43 percent of Filipino families feel poor ? the same rating reflected in their December 2021 survey," Andanar said.

A month before the survey was released the government placed the National Capital Region and other parts of the country under Alert Level 1.

While signs of recovery in the past two months were seen, the figures are still far from that before the government imposed a hard lockdown on March 2020.

"We recognize that much more needs to be done to lift Filipino families from their poor condition," Andanar said.

He said they also anticipate the adoption of the government's Ten-Point Policy Agenda for Economic Recovery last April to boost economic recovery. DMS