There should be no room for complacency even if the “worst is over” in the country as new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases being logged daily continue to decline, an official of the World Health Organization (WHO) said.
WHO Country Representative Dr. Rajendra Yadav said that the Philippines’ current COVID-19 situation is “encouraging.” However, there remains a possibility that cases may rise again.
“The decreasing trend of the number of new cases is really very encouraging. We also have seen relatively low number of deaths during the recent Omicron surge and also the national health care utilization rate is quite stable,” he said during a public briefing on Friday, Feb. 11.
"So, for now we can say worst is over but that’s only for now because we do not know how long this current favorable situation will last. We need to hope for the best but remain prepared for the worst," he added.
Yadav also raised the possibility that new coronavirus variants may still emerge after the Omicron variant.
"We have lot of uncertainties about the future evolution of this pandemic. It is very dangerous to assume that Omicron will be the last variant or that we are in the endgame," he said.
"New variants could emerge and these new variants could evade our countermeasures, may even become fully resistance to the current vaccines which will necessitate vaccine adaptations," he added.
“If other countries have low vaccination coverage and high transmission of the virus, yes, we expect that we could have new variants in the coming weeks or months. Let’s hope that doesn’t happen. But let’s be prepared for the worst,” he furthered.
Yadav said that the WHO is supporting the Philippines in its plan to shift to the new normal in the near future.
"So, every country has a unique situation and must chart its way out of the acute phase of the pandemic with a careful stepwise approach. So it’s really difficult to say and not easy to have answers for all countries. But, yes, WHO continues to support the government in all its approach as long as we take care of the three things," he said.
"One of them is ensuring we have vaccines, oxygen and antiviral for people, especially for the people who need them. Secondly, we have to continue to implement public health and social measures like maintaining physical distance, wearing well-fitting mask, avoiding poor ventilated spaces, cleaning hands, following respiratory hygiene. And thirdly, we have to restore and sustain the essential health services which have been disrupted by COVID-19," he added.