PH COVID-19 healthcare utilization rate at 'low-risk', lowest single-day tally in 2022 recorded

The Philippines' healthcare utilization rate is at the low-risk category as the number of new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases continues to go down, an official of the Department of Health (DOH) said Sunday, Feb. 20.

“Yung mga new cases ng COVID-19 bumababa lalong-lalo na yung healthcare utilization natin sa buong bansa, nasa low-risk category na nga tayo (The number of new COVID-19 cases are declining, especially our healthcare utilization nationwide, we are already in the low-risk category),” said DOH Undersecretary Leopoldo Vega in a radio interview.

However, the DOH is still monitoring some regions as their healthcare utilization rate is at “moderate-risk” case classification.

The low number of cases being registered daily can be attributed to the public’s adherence to health protocols and vaccination.

“Ang factors talaga diyan very critical yung public health intervention natin lalong lalo na yung pagsunod sa ating minimum public health standards... Pangalawa, yung bakuna. Yung bakuna medyo ayun yung miracle sa atin sa nangyari ngayon (The factors that are very critical are the public health intervention, especially the compliance with our minimum public health standards. Second, the vaccine. The vaccine is like a miracle for us with what is happening currently),” he added.

Lowest new infections

On Sunday, the country registered 1,712 new coronavirus infections. So far, this figure was the lowest tally of new infections in a single-day this year. This was also the second straight day that the Philippines recorded less than 2,000 cases.

The regions with the most number of fresh cases were Metro Manila, Calabarzon, and Western Visayas, the DOH said.

The new figures brought the total number of confirmed cases since 2020 to 3,652,203.

Of the total tally, only 1.7 percent or 60,532 are still “active cases.” Most of them or 55,102 have mild symptoms, 856 are asymptomatic, 2,848 are moderate, 1,421 are severe, and 305 are critical.

The number of recoveries and deaths increased by 3,686 and 77, respectively. Recovery count is now at 3,535,987, while the death toll jumped to 55,684.

Alert Level 1

The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) is set to discuss if all areas in the country will be placed under the Alert Level 1, said Vega.

“Tinitingnan natin yung metrics ngayon. Maganda naman yung metrics dahil considered na tayo low risk at considered na mababa yung hospital utilization rate. Pagu-usapan yan ng IATF by the end of this month dahil baka i-deescalate na to Alert Level 1 (We are looking at the metrics now. The metrics show encouraging indicators because we are now considered low risk and the hospital utilization rate is also low. The IATF will discuss that matter by the end of this month as we might de-escalate to Alert Level 1),” he said.

Restrictions on public transportation and establishments will be removed once the Alert Level 1 will be imposed, the DOH previously said.

“So pag sinabi mong Alert Level 1, ito yung (new) normal na. Yung capacity ng mga establishments, normal na; yung galaw ng tao, normal na. Pero hindi ibig sabihin na wala na yung virus, nandoon pa rin. So, kailangan yung public health intervention pa rin... Nandoon pa rin yung minimum public health standards sa Alert Level 1 (when you say Alert Level 1, this is the normal. The capacity of the establishments will return to normal; the public's mobility will also return to normal. But that doesn't mean that the virus is gone, it's still around. So, public health intervention is still needed... The minimum public health standards during Alert Level 1 will still be there),” he said.