The number of COVID-19 cases in the Philippines is plateauing, with all but two regions showing a two-week decline in infections, the Department of Health (DOH) said on Tuesday.
All regions are also under a low risk case classification except for the Cordilleras and the Davao regions, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said.
The national health care capacity is under low risk classification, while Davao region’s intensive care unit occupancy is at a moderate risk 58 percent, Vergeire said.
“All island groups–Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao–show a gradual decline in cases. All regions have fewer than 1,000 cases daily for this week,” said Vergeire.
The Omicron variant caused the highest increase in daily cases at 34,903 during its peak although it had the lowest number of severe and critical cases, Vergeire said.
Currently, 12-15 percent of hospitalized COVID-19 patients are severe and critical, Vergeire added.
“This proves that vaccines are effective,” she said.
Less than 30 in 1 million doses of COVID-19 jabs, or 4,041 in 1,333,659,314 caused serious adverse events following immunization, she added.
“More people die from COVID-19 than from vaccines. So it’s important for all of us to get vaccinated.,” she said.
Some 15,200 persons per 1 million virus cases have died from the respiratory illness, while three deaths per 100 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been recorded, she said.
“The benefits our vaccine provide greatly outweigh the risks,” she said.
Acting presidential spokesman Karlo Nograles urged the public to get their booster shots as 23 million out of 33.5 million individuals eligible for the jab have yet to receive it.
The Philippines has so far fully vaccinated 62.65 million people while 61.9 million others have received an initial dose and 9.8 million booster shots have been administered as of Monday.
For an area to deescalate to Alert Level 1, Vergeire said at least 80 percent of the vulnerable population must be vaccinated against COVID-19.
“This is not an additional condition… We increased the target because we know they are the most vulnerable against COVID-19,” she said.
The Inter-Agency Task Force Against COVID-19 will meet Thursday to discuss the alert level system of provinces and regions, Nograles said.
On Tuesday, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) said all local government units in the National Capital Region (NCR) were ready to shift to Alert Level 1.
In an interview on radio dzBB, MMDA officer-in-charge and general manager Romando Artes said the NCR has been successful in implementing COVID-19 response programs.
“If we are talking about the preparation of the LGUs, all of them are ready,” he said in Filipino. “If we are talking about preparation, Metro Manila is ready for Alert Level 1.”
The Philippines logged on Tuesday another record low of 1,019 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total case count to 3,654,284.
On Feb. 21, a total of 1,427 new cases were logged, the lowest since Dec. 30, 2021.
The positivity rate was at 6.4 percent based on COVID-19 tests on 18,177 people on Feb. 20.
The figure is lower than the 7.5 percent positivity rate on Monday.
Both are higher than the World Health Organization’s target of less than 5 percent positivity rate.
“Please note that lower reported numbers and positivity rate today are because these are Sunday laboratory outputs, which traditionally have the lowest outputs per week,” the DOH noted.
There were 13 new fatalities reported, bringing the COVID-19 death toll to 55,776.
The DOH also reported 2,988 new recoveries, bringing the total number of recoveries to 3,541,840.
There were 56,668 active cases, of which 704 were asymptomatic; 51,395 were mild; 2,840 were moderate; 1,425 were severe; and 304 were critical.
Nationwide, 29 percent of ICU beds, 24 percent of isolation beds, 19 percent of ward beds, and 16 percent of ventilators, are in use.
In Metro Manila, 26 percent of ICU beds, 24 percent of isolation beds,26 percent of ward beds, and 19 percent of ventilators, are in use.
Also on Tuesday, the independent OCTA Research Group said Metro Manila could shift to COVID-19 Alert Level 1 by March, noting that its positivity rate of 4.9 percent was already at the target range set by the World Health Organization of under 5 percent.
