The Philippines, still reeling from the onslaught of deadly typhoon Odette, reported on Monday an additional imported case of the Omicron coronavirus variant, bringing the country’s total to four, the Department of Health said.
This developed as senators on Monday opposed the Department of Health’s (DPH) decision to stop daily reports on new COVID-19 cases.
The DOH earlier said it will now only post its daily data on its official website for the public, hours after it recorded the country’s fourth case of the highly transmissible Omicron variant.
The Philippines is under COVID-19 Alert Level 2 for the remainder of 2021. Health Secretary Francisco Duque III on Monday said he favors keeping it at this level, but admitted the Inter-Agency Task Force had the last word on it.
Under an Alert Level 2—the second-lowest in the alert level system—certain establishments and activities are allowed at 50 percent capacity indoors for fully vaccinated adults (and minors, even if unvaccinated) and 70 percent capacity outdoors.
Sen. Richard Gordon, also chairman of the Philippine Red Cross, said this sudden change of policy in disseminating COVID-19 updates shows lack in manpower. Continuing their daily release of reports is vital to ensure public safety, he said, a point echoed by Sens. Joel Villanueva and Francis Pangilinan.
Senate President Vicente Sotto III said the DOH’s sudden change of policy might have an “agenda” while Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri also questioned the agency’s new tack, underlining the people’s right to information.
DOH spokesperson and Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the newest Omicron case was a 38-year-old female from the United States who arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport on December 10 via Philippine Airlines PR 127.
“She was quarantined upon arrival,” Vergeire told in a media forum, adding the woman had throat itchiness and colds on December 13.
Upon testing positive on December 15, she was placed in an isolation facility. “She was discharged after a 10-day isolation on December 24.
She remains to be asymptomatic as of this time,” Vergeire said.
The DOH said the traveler’s positive result for the Omicron variant came out on December 25.
“Our detection for the sequencing of the fourth case of Omicron came after, when the individual was discharged already,” she said.
“We know that if you do not have a variant of concern, you follow the existing protocol that we have. So, she underwent 10 days of isolation,” she added.
Vergeire said the traveler was currently undergoing home quarantine and was being monitored. She would be retested today.
Meanwhile, Vergeire said the agency was still trying to coordinate with the Bureau of Quarantine and the Department of Transportation regarding the flight manifest for contact tracing.
“Rest assured that all arrivals, for example, those from the US, a yellow country, are all quarantined for five days, tested on the fifth day, once negative, they are sent home, but they have to do home quarantine until the 14th day,” she said.Vergeire said the close contacts of the Omicron cases had yet to report COVID-19 symptoms.
At present, Vergeire said a total 15 countries had detected the Omicron variant, of which 51 have confirmed or suspected local transmission.
The latest run sequenced 46 samples, of which 38 were positive for the highly contagious Delta variant. This brings the total number of Delta cases in the country to 8,452.No more COVID bulletins
The DOH said Monday it would no longer post daily COVID-19 bulletins starting Saturday, New Year’s Day.
“Starting January 1, all COVID-19 data may be taken from the COVID-19 tracker of the DOH,” Vergeire said in a media briefing.
The DOH said the tracker would be updated at 4 p.m. daily and can be accessed at doh.gov.ph/covid19tracker.
“This public tracker, which has been operational since the start of the pandemic, contains all information being provided in the case bulletin and daily situation report,” the DOH said.
318 new cases
The Philippines logged on Monday 318 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total to 2,838,792, as two laboratories were not operational, while 26 laboratories were not able to submit their data due to the holidays, the DOH reported.
Of these 26 laboratories, 12 confirmed that they were closed and non-operating on December 25, 2021.
Based on data in the last 14 days, the 28 non-reporting laboratories contribute, on average, 9.5 percent of samples tested and 6.4 percent of positive individuals.
The DOH also reported 11 new fatalities, bringing the death toll to 51,211.
The DOH also reported that, nationwide, 18 percent of ICU beds, 21 percent of isolation beds, 10 percent of ward beds, and 10 percent of
ventilators, were in use.
Holiday uptick
The OCTA Research Group said Monday it was still premature to tighten
restrictions even with a COVID-19 “holiday uptick” that might only be
temporary.
Metro Manila’s COVID-19 reproduction rate or number of persons a patient can infect nearly doubled to 0.85 from 0.44 last week. This figure was only at 0.33 in early December,
OCTA fellow Dr. Guido David the country experienced a similar “holiday uptick” around December last year, he noted.
“We cannot say that this is omicron-driven because we also saw this last year, probably due to the gatherings of our compatriots,” David said in a televised public briefing.
He also noted there was a reduction in the country’s COVID-19 testing output as some laboratories closed due to the holidays and the onslaught of typhoon Odette.
COVID growth rate
Data on the National Capital Region have shown an increase in COVID-19 cases the past week, the DOH said.
Vergeire said the NCR remained at minimal risk classification with a negative 2-week growth rate and an average daily attack rate of 0.69 per 100,000 individuals.
The region’s one-week growth rate, however, stood at 49 percent.
According to Vergeire, 31 provinces, highly urbanized cities, and independent component cities have also recorded positive one-week growth rates.
“Note that these areas mostly have less than 100 active cases. We are flagging these said areas so these increases can be immediately controlled,” Vergeire said.
Lower alert level
Infectious disease expert Dr. Rontgene Solante has said placing the country in the lowest COVID-19 alert level may be possible next year if the average of new daily infections remained below 500 until the end of the year.
“I think that if the cases are still low and we’re still averaging below 500 until the end of December, then we might have enough reasons or basis to ease to Alert Level 1,” Solante said during a SuperRadyo dzBB interview.
‘Exercise caution’
A health expert has urged the public to exercise caution when going out as he noted a slight uptick in the country’s COVID-19 positivity rate.
“There’s an increase. During our monitoring, started December 20, there was an increase. The daily positivity rate was below 5 percent. Yesterday (Sunday) reproduction number was over 1 percent),” said
Prof. Jomar Rabajante of the University of the Philippines Pandemic Response Team.
The Philippines on Sunday confirmed 433 new cases of COVID-19, with a positivity rate at 2 percent—the highest since November 29, according to ABS-CBN Data Analytics head Edson Guido.
Rabajante said the increase might be due to increased mobility as more Filipinos go out to celebrate Christmas.
NCR at ‘low risk’
The National Capital Region’s COVID-19 risk increased over the past week, independent group OCTA Research Group said Sunday, moving the NCR from the “very low risk” column to “low risk.”
In its latest update, OCTA said the seven-day average of new cases in Metro Manila increased to 116 as of December 20 to 26.
OCTA fellow Dr. Guido David said the last time the seven-day average was above 100 was from December 3 to 9.
The reproduction number in the capital region increased to 0.85 as of December 23, while the incidence rate or average daily attack rate
increased to 0.82 per day per 100,000, OCTA said.
