The Department of Health (DOH) said there is an increase in the number of severe and critical Covid-19 patients in the country.
DOH Officer-in-Charge Maria Rosario Vergeire noted that the country now has at least 800 severe and critical Covid-19 patients.
"Yes, we confirmed that the number or the percentage of severe and critical infections have been noted to be increasing for these past weeks," said Vergeire during a press briefing on Tuesday, Aug. 23.
"Itong severe and critical infections, pag tiningnan natin sa kabuuan, hindi naman lumalagpas doon sa sinasabi nating 10 percent na threshold or 1,000 na number ng cases na threshold. It is still 800 plus–nandoon lang tayo sa trend na iyon. Although hindi natin gustong maliitin yung numero na iyon (These severe and critical infections, when we look at them as a whole, do not exceed the 10 percent threshold or the threshold of 1,000 cases. It is still 800 plus–we are still in that trend. Although we do not want to ignore such a number)," she added.
Vergeire also noted that "most of these admitted severe and critical , 60 percent of them are unvaccinated or just partially vaccinated."
The DOH official on Aug. 20 also noted that they have observed an increase in deaths due to Covid-19 in July and mid-August. Most of these people were unvaccinated as well.
Also on Aug. 5, Vergeire also reported that hospital admissions may increase in September or October due to waning immunity.
The DOH official urged eligible Filipinos to join the "PinasLakas" vaccination campaign and immediately get their Covid-19 vaccine booster shots.
"Ayun pa rin ang panawagan natin sa ating mga kababayan: magpabakuna tayo para hindi magtuloy-tuloy ang pagtaas ng malulubhang sakit sa ating bansa (Our appeal to our citizens is still the same: get vaccinated so that severe cases do not continue to increase in our country)," she said.
"Tandaan natin na ang sinasabi po ng ating projections; based on our experts--na maaring tumaas ang pagkaka-ospital in the coming months kung hindi talaga tataas ang pag receive ng booster doses ng ating mga kababayan (Let's remember the latest projection; based on our experts, hospitalization may increase in the coming months if the number of administered booster doses remains low)," she said.