The Department of Health (DOH) has noted a decline in the number of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases being reported daily.
"Meron po tayong nakikitang improvements. Una dito ay ang pagbaba ng kaso sa buong Pilipinas at bumabagal din ang bilis ng pagtaas ng mga kaso (We are seeing improvements. The number of cases nationwide is decreasing and the rate of increase in cases is also slowing down)," said DOH Secretary Francisco Duque III during the Cabinet meeting on Wednesday night, May 5.
Duque said that the national two-week growth rate dropped to -15 percent from 11 percent three to four weeks ago.
"Maganda po ito. Ibig sabihin bumabagal po ang takbo o ang bilis ng hawahan (It's good. It means that the transmission is slowing down)," he said.
The average daily attack rate in the country also went down, said Duque.
"Nung April 4 to 17--- 9.2 ang ating average cases a day per 100,000 population, bumaba po ng bahagya to 7.8. Kung ito po ay bababa pa (sa) less than seven ay mas maganda po kasi mas magiging moderate risk classification na po ang buong Pilipinas. Kasi ngayon po nasa high-risk pa rin tayo (On April 4 to 17 --- we have an average of 9.2 cases a day per 100,000 population, then it dropped slightly to 7.8. If it goes down (to) less than seven, it will be better because the country will be under the moderate risk classification. As of now, we are still at high-risk)," he said.
Duque also said that healthcare utilization nationwide has also improved amid the implementation of stricter quarantine measures in certain areas of the country, particularly in the Greater Manila area.
“Patuloy na bumubuti ang ating healthcare and ICU utilization nationwide dahil nagkaroon na rin tayo ng pagkakataon na palawigin ang health system capacity noong tayo ay nagtaas sa ECQ (enhanced community quarantine) at maingat na nag transition naman sa MECQ (modified enhanced community quarantine) (Our healthcare and ICU utilization continue to improve nationwide because we have the opportunity to expand our health system capacity when we imposed the ECQ and carefully transitioned to MECQ),” he said.
On Wednesday, May 5, the DOH reported 5,685 new infections, raising the number of active cases in the country to 62,713. The Philippines’ overall tally of cases is currently at 1,073,555 since the pandemic began last year.