ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Metro Manila's COVID-19 cases have not peaked yet---DOH

Metro Manila's COVID-19 cases have not peaked yet---DOH

Published Sep 18, 2021 03:35 pm

(MANILA BULLETIN / FILE PHOTO)

The Department of Health (DOH) said that the growing number of new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases in Metro Manila has not reached its peak yet.

DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said that they are still studying the trends of COVID-19 cases in Metro Manila.

“Hindi pa po natin masabi sa ngayon. Kasi itong peak, pag sinabing (peak), ito yung pinakamataas na makukuha nating numero at pagkatapos noon ay patuloy na bababa (We can't say yet. When cases peak, it means the highest number of cases has already been logged and after that--- cases will decrease),” said Vergeire on Saturday, Sept. 18.

Vergeire noted that last week, Metro Manila recorded 8,000 new cases in a single-day. The cases then went down to at least 5,500. However, cases increased again to 5,800.

“So, tataas, bababa. At this point in our analysis, hindi pa natin nakikita na nag-peak na tayo dito sa mga kaso. Pinag-aaralan po nating maiigi iyan (The number of cases increases then decreases. At this point in our analysis, we have not yet seen that we already reach the peak of cases. We are still studying this),” said Vergeire.

Meanwhile, Vergeire also defended the implementation of the alert level system with granular lockdown in Metro Manila. She said that the government is implementing a pilot test in the National Capital Region to further improve the measures and indicators in deciding the appropriate restriction.

“Actually wala naman po talagang perpektong sistema (Actually there is no perfect system),” she said.

On Thursday, Sept. 16, the Healthcare Professionals Alliance Against COVID-19 (HPAAC) said that this alert system scheme in Metro Manila "does not reflect the true situation on the ground."

The HPAAC then urged the government to "acknowledge and address the inadequacies of our data reporting system that forms the basis for the alert levels."

“Naririnig po natin ang mga health professionals natin sa kanilang mga rekomendasyon. Nakapag-usap na po tayo with them (We listen to the recommendations of our health professionals. We have already talked to them),” said Vergeire.

“May mga kaunting challenges lang po talaga ang national government for us to be able to get the necessary data especially when it comes to emergency room admissions (The national government has few challenges in getting the necessary data especially when it comes to emergency room admissions) ,” she added.

Vergeire said that they are collecting data from hospitals’ emergency room admissions.

“But ang atin pong challenge is the compliance of hospitals in submitting this emergency room data. Kami po ay nananawagan sa mga hospital na sana we can regularly get your data on emergency room admissions (The challenge is the compliance of hospitals in submitting this emergency room data. We are calling on hospitals so that we can regularly get your data on emergency room admissions),” she said.

Related Tags

covid-19 Department of Health (DOH) peak
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.