The Department of Health (DOH) reported 30,552 new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases on Saturday, Jan. 22.
Active COVID-19 cases nationwide stood at 280,619, the DOH's latest case bulletin showed.
Of the active cases, 8,591 are asymptomatic, 267,236 are mild, 2,996 are moderate, 1,491 are severe, while 305 are critical.
Also, 41,471 new recoveries and 97 more fatalities were confirmed on Saturday.
The country's cumulative tally of cases soared to 3,387,524, of which, 3,053,499 have already recovered, while 53,406 died.
DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said that almost all regions in the country are experiencing a spike in cases. She particularly mentioned the National Capital Region, Calabarzon, Central Luzon, Cordillera Administrative Region, Cagayan Valley, and Eastern Visayas.
Metro Manila to be placed under Alert Level 2?
The DOH official also said that it is too early to say that Metro Manila will be deescalated to Alert Level 2.
“I think it's too early to declare and to say to people that we will shift or deescalate to Alert Level 2,” said Vergeire.
“Tinitignan muna po natin (We will look at it first), we are closely monitoring. And according to projections, the peak might happen by the end of January or by the middle of February,” she added.
Hospitals nationwide prepared
Vergeire assured the public that hospitals nationwide are prepared to handle COVID-19 patients.
“Pero meron pa rin tayong mga kino-closely monitor na mga areas ngayon na medyo nagkakaroon ng kakulangan sa pag allocate ng COVID beds (But we are still closely monitoring some areas that do not have enough allocation of COVID beds),” said Vergeire in a public briefing.
“Ang isang pwedeng magandang makita ay yung hindi po ganoon kadami ang severe and critical kaya yung mga use ng mechanical ventilators, oxygens, yung gamit ng COVID investigational drugs for severe and critical ay hindi po masyadong kinakailangan ng ating mga lugar ang kailangan lang po talaga ngayon ay mas maraming kama para maaccomodate kung sino ang mga dapat i-admit sa ospital (One thing that is good is that the relatively low number of severe and critical cases. So, the use of mechanical ventilators, oxygens, and COVID investigational drugs for severe and critical cases is also low. What we need is to have more beds to accommodate people who should be admitted to the hospital),” she added.