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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider COVID-19 cases continue to rise as DOH records close to 3K new infections

COVID-19 cases continue to rise as DOH records close to 3K new infections

Published Dec 31, 2021 04:31 pm

Shoppers flock along Ylaya in Divisoria Market on Oct. 17, 2021 at a time when Metro Manila was under alert level 3. (Photo by Ali Vicoy)

The Philippines is experiencing a sharp rise in coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases as the Department of Health (DOH) reported nearly 3,000 cases during the last day of the year 2021.

Based on the latest case bulletin, there were 2,961 new cases detected on Dec. 31. The number of new COVID-19 cases in the Philippines has doubled daily in recent days. On Dec. 28, only 421 cases were reported but on Dec. 29— it went up to 889. The daily cases nearly doubled on Dec. 30 when 1,623 infections were recorded.

The last time that the Philippines logged more than 2,000 cases was on Nov. 21 with 2,227 infections then.

It was noted that the National Capital Region, Calabarzon, and Central Luzon were the “top regions with cases in the recent two weeks.”

Active infections nationwide also increased to 14,233 or 0.5 percent of the total number of infections since last year— which stood at 2,843,979.

The DOH detailed that of those who are still sick, 8,365 patients have mild symptoms, 3,197 are in moderate condition, 1,701 are severe, 628 are asymptomatic, and 342 are in critical state.

The death toll, meanwhile, rose by 132 to 51,504, while the recovery count jumped to 2,778,242 after 481 more survivors were recorded.

Assume there is Omicron community transmission

Amid the spike in cases, DOH Secretary Francisco Duque III advised the public that it is best to assume that the presence of the Omicron variant is now present in the communities.

The DOH- Center for Health Development in Bicol earlier posted on its official Facebook page that two cases of Omicron variant were detected in the region. However, its post was deleted. The DOH-Central Office has yet to give an official statement about this.

So far, the DOH officially confirmed four cases of this highly transmissible variant—all of them are imported cases.

“It is prudent to assume that Omicron is already in circulation or is already in the communities, absent of course, a definitive whole genome sequencing results to support that theory,” said the Health chief in a press briefing.

“It is good to already assume for purposes of planning, for purposes of communication,” he added.

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covid-19 Department of Health (DOH)
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