
The Department of Health (DOH) said that the consistent decline in the Philippines’ coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases being reported daily is not artificial.
Based on their metrics, DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said that the COVID-19 cases in the country are really decreasing.
She said that the Philippines is currently averaging about 2,888 cases per day. In Metro Manila, there were only an average of 493 cases daily as compared to over 5,000 infections previously recorded during the surge in cases brought about by the Delta variant.
“Nakita natin na talagang bumaba na ang mga kaso. Nakita din natin na kasabay ng pagbaba ng kaso ay bumaba na rin ang admission sa mga hospital (We have seen that the number of cases has really dropped. We have also seen that along with the decline in cases, admissions to hospitals also decreased),” Vergeire said in a press briefing on Friday, Nov. 5.
“This is not artificial anymore. We have seen the decline,” she added.
Some hospitals, however, still have a high number of patients because some of them spend extended periods in hospital because they developed a severe or critical form of COVID-19, said Vergeire.
“May mga nananatiling hospital na meron pa rin pagkapuno ang kanilang mga beds, lalo na ang ICU, that is because mas matagal po ang nilalagi ng mga severe at critical na mga pasyente sa ating mga ospital kaya hindi pa fully decongested (There are still hospitals whose bed capacity remain full, especially the ICU, that is because severe and critical patients have been staying in hospitals for a longer period, so they have not been fully decongested yet),” she said.
Despite the declining number of COVID-19 cases nationwide, Vergeire reminded the public to remain vigilant.
“Ang kailangan lang talaga, maremind natin ang ating mga kababayan na ang behavior natin ay malaking factor dito kung tataas pa ang ating mga kaso. Sana susunod tayo lahat sa safety protocols (We are reminding our citizens that our behavior is a big factor here if our cases will increase again. I hope we all follow the safety protocols),” she said.
“Kailangan tayo ay mindful na nandyan pa ang virus. Kailangan maintindihan natin na kahit tayo ay bakunado, maari pa rin tayong makapanghawa or mahawa pa rin (We need to be mindful that the virus is still there. We need to understand that even if we are vaccinated, we can still infect others or get infected),” she added.