Weeks after a “steep” decline in the number of infections, the Department of Health (DOH) said the decrease in the number of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases in Metro Manila and nearby provinces has started to slow down.
Although cases are still on a downward trend, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the number of cases in the National Capital Region (NCR)-plus is now plateauing.
“The National Capital Region bubble, although we are seeing a decline in the number of cases, we are seeing that the decline is getting slower and that we are seeing a number of cases again,” Vergeire said in a CNN Philippines interview Monday, May 31.
Metro Manila and its neighboring provinces are still recovering from a recent surge that overwhelmed hospitals and its personnel, forcing the national government to impose another round of lockdown.
Weeks after the reimposition of stricter quarantine measures, the pandemic situation in NCR-plus has started to improve as the number of cases went down to pre-surge levels and the healthcare utilization rate reduced to moderate levels.
“We have observed that during about two or three weeks ago, the decline was really steep. The decline was fast,” Vergeire said. “But right now it’s plateauing, and we are seeing this because we are averaging right now for the NCR-plus bubble around 1,100 cases.”
Mobility
Although there are “a lot of reasons” that affect the decrease in cases, the health official particularly pointed mobility as one of the driving factors that decelerated the decline in cases as more sectors have been allowed to reopen following the easing of restrictions.
“But we all know that we need to somehow gradually open our sectors,” she said. “So what we need to do is, even though we are opening the industries, we need to comply with the minimum health protocols and be very cautious still because the virus is still here.”
Moderate level
Vergeire noted that the NCR-plus and its healthcare utilization remain under moderate level.
“What we need to do right now is to maintain that and eventually have it reduced to that safe zone that we are saying,” she said.
Gradual opening of sectors
Likewise, the DOH official expressed support for the gradual opening of some sectors and industries in the NCR-plus while striking a balance between the economy and health.
“But there should be safeguards when we do this and the safeguards would be that everybody, not just the community, but also workplaces has to comply with the health protocols that we have,” Vergeire said.
“Aside from that, the vaccination should be faster, we should be able to scale it up, and we should be to prioritize the vulnerable,” she added.