The COVID-19 infection rate in the Philippines is already “generally” on a flat trend, the OCTA Research Group has said, but warned intensive care units in Davao and Iloilo are currently at risk of being overloaded.
OCTA, citing the COVID Act Now Metrics, said the Philippines had an infection rate of 0.93, indicating that the trend was “generally flat.”
Broken down into smaller units, Metro Manila has a rate of 0.84 which indicates a “downward trend” for new cases.
The area is currently under a general community quarantine with some restrictions until July 15, 2021.
A flat trend is also seen in Bacolod with 1.04, while a “slow upward trend” is being recorded in the cities of Cebu with 1.30, Davao with 1.36, and Iloilo with 1.14, said OCTA.
In terms of the positive test rate, the Philippines has a “high” rate of 11 percent, along with Davao City with 16 percent and Iloilo City with 19 percent.
“Adequate” rates were seen in Metro Manila with 6 percent and Cebu City with 7 percent.
Low utilization
Meanwhile, ICU utilization was considered “low” in the Philippines, the National Capital Region (NCR), Cebu City, and Bacolod.
A different scenario was seen in the cities of Davao and Iloilo, with their rates above 85 percent indicating that the ICUs are "at high risk of being overloaded in case of a COVID-19 surge."
According to the OCTA Research Group, the COVID Act Now uses risk metrics developed with the Harvard Global Health Institute and Harvard Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics with collaborations from Bloomberg, Apple, and Microsoft, among others.
New fatalities
At the same time, the Philippines logged on Monday 5,392 new cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), bringing the total to 1,441,746, as 10 laboratories were not able to submit their data on time, the Department of Health reported.
Based on data in the last 14 days, the 10 non-reporting laboratories contribute, on average, 0.70 percent of samples tested and 1.40 percent of positive individuals.
The DOH also reported 43 new fatalities, bringing the death toll to 25,192.
The DOH also reported 6,477 persons who recently recovered, bringing the total recoveries to 1,364,960.
The DOH also reported 51,594 active cases, of which 91.1 percent were mild, 3.8 percent were asymptomatic, 1.5 percent were critical, 2.1 percent were severe, and 1.57 percent were moderate.
The DOH reported that, nationwide, 56 percent of the ICU beds, 46 percent of the isolation beds, 43 percent of the ward beds, and 34 percent of the ventilators, were in use.
Lagundi helps
The Department of Science and Technology said patients with mild COVID-19 recovered faster after a week of treatment with herbal drug lagundi in a local clinical trial.
Partial results of the study showed that the patients' coronavirus symptoms such as loss of sense of smell, among others, disappeared following lagundi treatment, DOST Fortunato de la Peña told ANC.
"They found out that those who took lagundi have the sense of smellrestored earlier," he said. "They also found out that the symptoms disappeared earlier for those who took lagundi."
De la Peña noted that the patients recovered after 7 to 8 days, saying they tested negative after a reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction test.
The study, which involved 278 patients from 7 different quarantine centers in Metro Manila, sought to examine the effect of anti-cough and anti-asthma medicine on COVID-19.
Fake vax cards
Police officers are told to be wary of persons who might take advantage of the eased rules on interzonal travel for fully vaccinated persons by presenting fake vaccination cards.
Philippine National Police chief Gen. Guillermo Eleazar said police would coordinate with the local government units on the latest directive issued by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) that fully vaccinated persons need not present swab test results if they want to travel within the country.
Eleazar said: “If the result of the RT-PCR test is falsified, it is not far off that some person will also use fake vaccination documents. We must not allow this to happen..”
The latest IATF resolution states that a person is considered fully vaccinated only if it has already been two weeks or more since the second vaccine dose was received, or two weeks since receiving a single shot.
COVID vaccines
Sen. Christopher Go has reminded Filipinos that vaccines are provided for free to them by the government as he warned those selling vaccine slots or fake vaccines that they are putting lives at risk.
“COVID vaccine for sale is prohibited," stressed Go, chair of the Senate committee on health.
He also encouraged the public to be vigilant against individuals who are allegedly selling COVID-19 vaccines, vaccination slots, or worse—fake vaccines.
He reminded them that the vaccines being rolled out by the government were given for free.
He also warned perpetrators that they were putting lives at risk with their illegal activities and that they would be held accountable for such actions that take advantage of the vulnerabilities of Filipinos amid an ongoing health crisis.
On July 1, a nurse from a hospital in Manila was arrested by the National Bureau of Investigation over the sale of COVID-19 vaccines.
The following day, the city’s local government denied that the COVID-19 doses purportedly being sold were from its inventory.
The hospital has been asked by the city government to investigate the incident and pursue administrative charges against the nurse.
The hospital also confirmed in a statement that the arrested nurse was not a member of the team that manages the COVID-19 immunizations.