The Department of Health (DOH) logged 1,409 new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases, raising the country's running caseload to 2,806,694.
The DOH said that 1.1 percent or 30,544 of the case total remain active or those who are still undergoing treatment.
Of the active cases, 60.7 percent have mild symptoms, 17.05 percent are in moderate condition, 10 percent have severe symptoms, eight percent are asymptomatic, and 4.2 percent are in critical condition.
Also, 2,941 new recoveries and 46 more deaths were logged. The country’s recovery tally is now at 2,731,583 while the death toll stands at 44,567.
COVID-19 will not disappear just yet
DOH Secretary Francisco Duque III said that COVID-19 will not disappear at this point in time.
“It is wrong to think at this stage that the COVID will disappear. It is best to assume that it will stay with us and therefore we must learn to coexist with it,” he said in a public press briefing.
“But we must be able to contain it, so as not to overwhelm our healthcare system and to continue to protect the vulnerable population,” he added.
The government is currently preparing in case this viral disease will be declared as an “endemic.”
“Pagkasinabi nating endemic, tinatanggap natin na ang (we are accepting that) COVID will be here to stay. So hindi natin maze-zero ito (we will not be able to eliminate this completely) given the current data and available information---- so we have to live with it,” he said.
“Para po ito maiwasan---- ay siguraduhin natin lahat ng aksyon natin ay patungo to avoid reaching (To avoid this ---- let's make sure that all our actions are towards avoiding reaching) the red line in terms of health system’s capacity and continuing protection of the vulnerable population,” he added.
Aside from ramping up the healthcare system’s capacity, Duque also emphasized the importance of further strengthening the country’s genomic biosurveillance, detection and isolation of cases, contact tracing, and adherence to minimum public health standards.
“So tuloy-tuloy ito, pinagiigting natin. Hindi tayo puwede bumitaw sa mga ginagawa natin. Napatunayan na natin na itong mga pamamaraan na ito ay tunay na mabisa (So we are continuously intensifying. We cannot be complacent on what we are doing. We have proven that these methods are really effective),” he said.
“Importante itong mga interventions na ito para sa pangkalahatan natin mapaigting, mapaunlad, mapahusay ang ating (These interventions are important for us to generally intensify, develop, and enhance our) endemic response. So from pandemic to endemic COVID response,” he added.