The Philippines logged on Wednesday 14,216 new infections, breaching the 2 million mark of COVID-19 cases, the Department of Health said, with incoming vaccines to be deployed to the provinces where spikes have been recorded.
This, after an independent research group said the National Capital Region’s reproduction number of COVID-19 cases had gone down to 1.43 as of August 31.
Nationwide, active cases stood at 140,949, with 86 new fatalities bringing the death toll to 33,533 or 1.67 percent of the total cases.
At least 73 percent of the ICU beds, 66 percent of the isolation beds, 71 percent of the ward beds, and 55 percent of the ventilators were in use, the DOH said.
In Metro Manila, 71 percent of the ICU beds, 66 percent of the isolation beds, 73 percent of the ward beds, and 60 percent of the ventilators were in use.
As this developed, the incoming shipments of vaccines this month will be deployed mostly to Southern Tagalog, Central Luzon, and other regions experiencing surges in COVID-19 infections.
The COVID-19 vaccines to be deployed in Metro Manila, on the other hand, will be used to inoculate residents for their second doses.
“Those (areas) under Alert Level 4, areas where there are high cases like Cavite, Laguna, Bulacan, the area of Ilocos and other provinces, those will be prioritized,” said National Task Force Against COVID-19 Chief Implementer and vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr.
As of August 31, the government has administered 33,706,295 vaccine doses, with 13,958,418 as second dose.
Metropolitan Manila Development Authority chairman Benjamin Abalos Jr. said 45.16 percent of Metro Manila’s 9.77 million target population are now fully vaccinated.
137 million doses
The Philippines is set to receive over 137 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines within the remaining months of this year, Galvez said.
“We are making significant work towards having a better Christmas. That’s what we are doing,” he added.
The government, however, failed to meet its target of administering 500,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine a day from August 23 to August 29.
Fresh funding for contact tracers
Interior Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya said President Rodrigo Duterte granted the P1.7 billion budget requested by the DILG for the extension of service of the contact tracers up to December this year.
He also called on LGUs to “maximize’’ their contact tracers after receiving reports that some of the more than 2,600 contact tracers in Metro Manila were assigned for vaccination activities.
Malaya said contact tracers should be utilized in finding close contacts in areas under granular lockdowns and should not be assigned for other purposes.
Possible alternative COVID drug
The government is now looking into baricitinib as a possible alternative due to the limited supply of tocilizumab, a drug used off-label in treating COVID-19 patients, DOH Undersecretary Leopoldo Vega said in an interview on Dobol B TV.
He said they were already talking with the distributor regarding the possibility of increasing the supply of baricitinib.
Like tocilizumab which is an anti-inflammatory drug, baricitinib is used for treating rheumatoid arthritis, Vega said.
Clinical trials for ivermectin
The Philippines plans to start clinical trials of veterinary drug ivermectin as a COVID-19 treatment in the middle of September, a Department of Science and Technology official said Wednesday, amid controversy over its use for this purpose.
DOST Executive Director Jaime Montoya told House members they were still waiting for approval from the ethics and review panel on the methodology of the study.
Travel ban extended
The Bureau of Immigration announced the extension of the temporary travel ban for passengers coming from 10 countries until September 5.
In an advisory, BI Commissioner Jaime Morente said the extended travel restriction covers those coming from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia from September 1 to 5, 2021.
SC workforce reduction
The Supreme Court has ordered the reduction of its workforce from 25 percent to just 15 percent in its various offices along Padre Faura Street, Ermita, Manila starting yesterday until September 7.
In a Memorandum Order, Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo stressed the reduction would be “enough to keep the vital functions of the different offices and services” of the high court.
Gesmundo said the maintenance of a limited operational capacity is “in view of the alarming number of recent COVID-19 infections and the extension of the modified enhanced community quarantine in Metro Manila.”