The Department of Health (DOH) has confirmed another 3,165 new Covid-19 cases nationwide on Saturday, Sept. 10.
The new cases brought the number of active infections across the country to 26,074.
Metro Manila recorded the largest number of cases in the past 14 days with 8,335 infections, followed by Calabarzon with 3,533, Central Luzon with 2,254, Western Visayas with 1,154, and Davao Region with 1,004.
As of Saturday, the country’s total number of cases stood at 3,904,133 wherein 3,815,771 were tagged as recoveries and 62,228 were deaths.
New generation Covid-19 vaccines
The DOH, meanwhile, said it is already in talks with vaccine manufacturers regarding the possible procurement of “new generation Covid-19 vaccines.”
“We have already initially had some talks with these manufacturers kung saan meron tayong mga inaayos especially yung mga non-disclosure agreement, pangalawa, yung mga term sheets natin (and we are arranging things, especially the non-disclosure agreements as well as our term sheets),” said DOH Officer-in-Charge Maria Rosario Vergeire on Friday, Sept. 9.
Previously, Vergeire said that these vaccines are designed to specifically target the different subvariants of omicron. These vaccines are set to be released by next month.
These new generation vaccines also need to undergo evaluation and assessment by the country’s health authorities, said Vergeire.
With this, the government is expecting that these vaccines will arrive in the country by the first quarter of 2023.
“Ang atin po ngayong specific focus hanggang hindi pa dumadating itong mga new generation na mga bakunang ito, kailangan lahat tayo magkaisa, tayo ay mag encourage pa rin lalo nitong pagrereceive ng mga booster shots ng ating mga kababayan (Until these new generation vaccines arrive, our specific focus right now is to be united and continue encouraging our citizens to receive the booster shots), specifically the first booster shots,” said Vergeire.
“Kailangan meron na nakaakibat na proteksyon ang ating mga kababayan hanggang nagaantay tayo (Our citizens need to have adequate protection while we are waiting for these new vaccines that will come in the country,” she added.