PH still at minimal risk despite hike in COVID cases
Despite a slight increase in the week-on-week average number of daily COVID-19 cases, the country and most regions remain at “minimal risk,” according to the Department of Health (DOH).
In his report to President Duterte at the sidelines of his televised “Talk to the People on COVID-19” public address on Monday, Health Undersecretary Abdullah Dumama Jr. said that from May 17 to May 23, there were 1,247 active cases or an average of 178 a daily. This was 15 percent higher than the 1,085 cases or an average of 155 daily cases recorded between May 10 and May 16.
Metro Manila tallied an average of 73 daily cases based on the onset of symptoms from May 17 to May 23, higher by 16 percent compared to the average 64 cases per day from the previous week.
“The recorded slight increase in cases did not affect our health-care utilization rate. In the regions and the whole country, [our health-care capacity] remained at low risk utilization rate,” Dumama said.
He cited other metrics, including the cumulative case fatality rate of 1.64 percent, the national cumulative recovery rate of 98.3 percent, the seven-day average positivity rate of 1.1 percent from May 16 to May 22, the 17 percent utilization rate of nonintensive care unit beds, and 15.1 percent utilization of intensive care unit beds.
Of the total 5,586 total admissions, 12 percent or only 668 were severe and critical cases, compared to 625 in the previous week. Deaths due to COVID-19 also continue to decline, with only 16 recorded in the third week of May, he added.
High health-care utilization rate is one of the main considerations for raising the alert level over a city, province or region.
New Omicron subvariant
Dumama said that all regions in the country were also at “minimal risk” from COVID-19 except Central Luzon, Bicol, Eastern Visayas, Soccsksargen, Caraga and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao which were under “low-risk” classification.
But the DOH official said that with the detection of the more transmissible BA.4 Omicron subvariant, unvaccinated people and those eligible for booster shots should get jabbed soon “to strengthen our immune system and to fight any COVID-19 variant that will arrive in the future, if ever.”
According to him, the BA.4 subvariant has been recognized as a variant of concern by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control because of its higher transmissibility and potential to evade immune protection. However, he said there was still no evidence that the subvariant was causing more severe cases.
Presidential adviser on COVID-19 response Vince Dizon said that the country’s major urban centers already had higher vaccination rates compared to other megacities around the world.
In terms of total population of fully vaccinated, Metro Manila posted 107 percent after its component cities inoculated even nonresidents. Cebu City, on the other hand, has 87.45 percent of its total population fully vaccinated while Davao City has 85.38 percent.
By comparison, Los Angeles is 72 percent fully vaccinated; New York, 78 percent; and London, also 78 percent.