The Philippines is now under “moderate-risk” classification for coronavirus disease (COVID-19), an official of the Department of Health (DOH) said.
This was after the country’s latest two-week growth rate in cases dropped to negative 4 percent, said DOH Epidemiology Bureau Director Dr. Alethea De Guzman.
“At the national level, we are now at the moderate-risk case classification because our two-week growth rate has become a negative two-week growth rate,” De Guzman said in a Palace briefing Monday, Sept. 27.
“We’re at negative 4 percent in the recent one to two weeks, much lower than the 27 percent we reported the week prior,” she added.
According to the DOH official, the country’s average daily reported cases reached its peak on the second week of September with an average of 20,946 cases per day.
On Sept. 11 alone, the Health department recorded 26,303 new cases of COVID-19—the country’s highest number of new infections reported in a single day since the start of the pandemic last year.
The country’s bed utilization for COVID-19 patients remained at moderate-risk level at 67.83 percent, De Guzman said.
On the other hand, the nationwide Intensive Care Unit (ICU) occupancy stood at high-risk classification at 75.58 percent.
High-risk regions
“There are still nine regions whose case classification remain to be at high risk,” De Guzman pointed out.
These are the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), Regions 2, 1, Caraga, 12, 6, 9, 5, and 4B.
Moreover, she noted that both bed and ICU utilization in CAR, Regions 2, 1, and Caraga were at high-risk level.
Moderate-risk areas
The National Capital Region (NCR), De Guzman said, is under moderate-risk case classification as the region’s latest two-week growth rate was at negative 13 percent.
Metro Manila’s bed occupancy was also at moderate-risk level at 63.04 percent, while the ICU utilization in the metropolis was at the high-risk range at 76.22 percent, she added.
Other areas under moderate-risk level are Regions 4A, 3, 11, 10, 7, 8, and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
Regions 4A, 3, 11, 10, and 7 also had negative two-week growth rates, De Guzman said.
But she noted that both bed and ICU utilization in Regions 4A and 3 were at high-risk classification.