Even with the increase of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases in the country, the Department of Health (DOH) said on Monday night, Jan. 17, that admissions remain to be lower in comparison to the surge experienced with the peak of cases involving the Delta variant.
During the president's pre-recorded public address, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III reported that case increase in Jan. 2022 was much faster and larger than what was observed during the Delta surge in Sept. 2021 but despite high case number, admissions at the national level and in Metro Manila are lower in comparison to Sept. 2021.
"Dati ang Delta pag sumipa yung kaso, sumisipa yung ICU case yung severe critical sumisipa rin pero ngayon nakikita natin nagdede-coupling, bumabaklas na doon sa admission curve na mataas (Before during the Delta surge when cases increase, ICU cases, those severe and critical increase as well but now we are seeing a decoupling since admissions are no longer high)," Duque explained.
Duque however mentioned that the country is still not out of the woods yet as there still a chance that the health system's capacity may be overwhelmed.
"But we have to be careful Mr. President kasi pwede pa rin yang tumaas (it can still go up because of the sheer number of infections or the admissions. So whatever mild nature the Omicron variant seems to have, may be negated by the sheer number of infections that can still pose a threat to our health system's capacity," he said.
He stated that according to DOH's data, the percentage of mild cases admitted declined since January 2021 but sharply increased in January 2022 while percentage of severe and critical only slightly increased during Delta peak but is now on a plateau.
He added that of the 11,952 total admissions as of Jan. 16 1,144 or 10 percent are severe cases while 458 or 4 percent are in critical condition.
Meanwhile, Duque said that the country as well as Metro Manila is still under critical-risk case classification. The country has a 34,923 seven-day moving average of reported daily cases from Jan. 11 to Jan. 17 which is higher by 71 percent from Jan. 4 to Jan. 10.
It also has a 1,805 percent two-week growth rate, 24.82 average daily attack rate per 100,000 population and 47.3 positivity rate while healthcare utilization rates range from low to moderate risk levels.