The Philippines is at low risk for COVID-19, based on certain criteria, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said Monday.
Criteria viewed included the 2-week growth rate of cases and capacity of the health care system.
“Ang Pilipinas ngayon nasa low risk [ang] 2-week growth rate… Ang ating health system capacity, pag gagamitin mo ang 2 metrics, total bed utilization and ICU (intensive care unit) bed utilization, nasa low risk level tayo,” said Duque.
But despite the continuous improvement of the situation of COVID-19 in the Philippines, the country cannot be below Alert Level 1, said Duque.
“Maghintay lang tayo. Kaunti pang panahon. ‘Pag itong mga kaso ay patuloy na bumababa pa at umabot sa threshold na angkop sa Alert Level 1, then we will do that,” said Duque.
If infectious disease expert Dr. Rontgene Solante is also to be asked, it is better to stay at Alert Level 2 for now.
“It’s too early and it’s too drastic to change to a lower alert level. Tingnan muna natin in the next 2 weeks kung medyo maganda ang palo ng mga kaso natin, kung mababa,” said Solante.
PH ‘low risk’ on some standards regarding COVID-19: Duque
Even though the country is slowly recovering from the surge, the COVID-19 pandemic is still there, Solante said.
“We’re still in the pandemic period,” said Solante, who reminded the public to continue to wear face masks and avoid gatherings.
According to the Department of Health (DOH), the government targets 90 million Filipinos to be vaccinated by the end of President Duterte’s term.
In the event that experts decide to declare COVID endemic before this time, certain measures such as vaccination, wearing a face mask, and other health standards will remain.
The DOH recorded 6,835 new COVID-19 cases this Monday, the 7th consecutive day with less than 10,000 new cases.
The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country reached 3,616,387, of which 116,720 were active cases.
Of the new COVID-19 cases, 6,673 or 98 percent occurred within the recent 14 days. Metro Manila (949 cases), Western Visayas (822 cases), and Central Visayas (624 cases) were the top regions with cases in the past two weeks.
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