The Department of Health (DOH) reported Sunday, Feb. 14, that 93.2 percent of those who contracted the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the country have already recovered.
Based on the latest case bulletin, the Philippines recorded 10,967 new recoveries, raising the total number of survivors to 511,743.
There were also 1,928 new confirmed cases. This brought the tally of active cases to 25,918. The overall tally of confirmed cases stood at 549,176, since the COVID-19 outbreak began in the country last year.
Of the active cases, the DOH said about 86 percent are mild, 7.2 percent are asymptomatic, three percent are critical, 2.9 percent are in severe condition, while 0.91 percent are in moderate condition.
It also reported eight new deaths, pushing the death toll to 11,515.
Vaccine supply agreement
The National Task Force Against COVID-19 (NTF), headed by Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr., and the DOH said that vaccine supply agreements are still ongoing aside from the COVAX facility.
“The current limited global supply prevents vaccine manufacturers from entering supply agreements with the government,” the NTF and the DOH said in a joint statement Sunday, Feb. 14.
“Due to the binding nature of supply agreements, and given the limited supply of vaccines globally, manufacturers have not been able to commit specific delivery dates, hence preventing them from entering into supply agreements with the national government,” they added.
DOH Secretary Francisco Duque III assured that the Philippine government will continue negotiating with vaccine manufacturers to secure supply of COVID-19 vaccines.
“The entire vaccine cluster, with our Vaccine Czar Sec. Charlie Galvez at the helm, is doing everything to secure cost-effective vaccines for the Philippines at the soonest possible time,” said Duque.
“In the meantime, with the arrival of vaccines from the COVAX Facility just around the corner, our attention and efforts are focused towards ensuring the country’s readiness to roll-out the vaccines,” he added.
Duque said that the COVID-19 vaccines that will be used in the Philippines will undergo the necessary evaluation to ensure its safety.
“As the entire government prepares for the COVID-19 vaccination, I call for the cooperation of everyone in addressing the persistent issue of vaccine hesitancy--we want everyone to be assured that vaccines are safe and effective,” he said.
“I further call on the public to continue strict and proper adherence to our minimum public health standards. Yes, vaccines will afford us a certain degree of protection, but we emphasize that prevention remains to be the best strategy to combat COVID-19,” he added.