The Department of Health (DOH) said that Metro Manila and the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) are now under the moderate-risk classification for Covid-19 transmission.
DOH Officer-in-Charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said that all areas in the Philippines are still experiencing a continuous rise in cases, especially those in the Luzon area.
"All areas are still at a continuous uptrend with the rest of Luzon— increasing with the fastest rate reporting more than 1,000 cases per day in the recent few days," said Vergeire in a press briefing on Friday, Aug. 5.
"Bukod sa National Capital Region, ang CAR ay kasalukuyan na ring nasa moderate risk case classification na may ADAR na 6.10 cases per 100,000 population. Habang 8.67 naman per 100,000 population ang National Capital Region (Apart from the National Capital Region, CAR is also currently in the moderate risk case classification with an ADAR of 6.10 cases per 100,000 population. While the National Capital Region has 8.67 cases per 100,000 population)," she noted.
The other regions remain at low-risk case classification but the DOH is currently monitoring the Covid-19 situation in Calabarzon, said Vergeire.
"Nalalapit na ang Region 4A sa moderate risk average daily attack rate na threshold at 4.8 cases per 100,000 population. Ang iba pang rehiyon ay nagtatala ng average daily attack rate na 1 to 3 cases per 100,000 population (Region 4A is approaching the moderate risk average daily attack rate threshold at 4.8 cases per 100,000 population. The other regions have been recording an average daily attack rate of 1 to 3 cases per 100,000 population)," she said.
Despite these developments, Vergeire said that low risk case classification is maintained nationally. From July 29 to Aug. 4, the DOH recorded a total of 25,967 cases. The average number of cases per day was at 3,710.
“Mas mataas po ito ng 16 percent mula nung nakaraang linggo at tinatayang halos nasa same level ng cases noong second week ng (This is 16 percent higher than last week and is estimated to be almost at the same level of cases during the second week of) February of this year,” said Vergeire.
Hospital admissions
Vergeire said that the number of severe and critical Covid-19 hospital admissions in the Philippines remains less than 1,000. Most of the Covid-19 cases were mild or asymptomatic, she said.
“Sa kasalukuyan, tinatayang 833 ang total severe and critical na bumubuo ng 8.95 percent out of the total admissions (Currently, there are a total of 833 severe and critical or 8.95 percent out of the total admissions),” she said.
The DOH official said that hospital admissions may increase in September or October. Daily cases, meanwhile, may spike to 19,000 by the end of August.
“The updated projections state that towards the end of September or even early October, hospitalization might increase. That is because of the waning immunity of the population,” she said.
In order to prevent this, it is important to increase the vaccination uptake, particularly for the first booster shot, said Vergeire.
“Sana nga tuloy-tuloy mahikayat ang ating mga kababayan---in the coming days mas tumaas pa ang accomplishments para hindi mangyari ang pagtaas ng pagkaka-ospital at tuloy-tuloy na pagtaas ng kaso (We hope that our citizens will continue to be encouraged And in the coming days, hopefully, the vaccination accomplishments will increase even more so that the increase in hospitalizations as well as in cases do not happen),” she said.
“Projections are not cast in stone. These are estimated numbers that may happen. And this is used to guide all of us, not just from the policy makers but also for the community.” she added.