Five areas in Metro Manila are now under the "moderate risk" status for Covid-19 following the continuing uptick in the number of cases, the Department of Health (DOH) said.

These areas are Pasig, San Juan, Quezon City, Marikina, and Pateros, said Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire.

The DOH previously explained that for an area to be classified under moderate risk, “it should have a positive two-week growth rate (TWGR) and average daily attack rate (ADAR) of at least six average cases per day per 100,000 population.”

“Pag tiningnan po natin, ang kanilang mga growth rate ay lumalagpas ng 200 percent kasi nanggagaling po sa mababang numero, biglang nagkaroon ng kaso kaya tumaas ang growth rate (If we look at it, their growth rates already reached 200 percent because from low numbers, their cases suddenly rise— that's is why there is an increase in the growth rate),” said Vergeire during a public briefing on Saturday, June 25.

Hospital admissions

Despite this development, Vergeire clarified that the healthcare utilization rate of these areas are still manageable.

“Kasama sa metrics natin ang health system's capacity... Pag tiningnan natin, even though moderate risk case classification itong limang areas—isa lang po sa kanila ang medyo may pagtaas sa pag admit sa ospital (Our metrics include the health system's capacity... If we look at it, even though these five areas are under moderate risk case classification— only one of them has a slight increase in hospital admissions) and the rest are less than 50 percent,” she noted.

Vergeire said that they are reminding the different local government units as well as hospitals to prepare in the event that the number of Covid-19 cases rise further.

Some of the factors why cases continue to increase is the presence of the more transmissible Omicron subvariants, said Vergeire. Another factor is the public’s compliance to health protocols, she added.

"For these past weeks, our compliance to minimum public health standards have dropped by as much as 21 percent," said Vergeire.

Vergeire also attributed the increase in cases to waning immunity of the public. "Marami ng eligible for booster shots pero hindi nila nauuptake, so yung immunity ng populasyon unti-unting bumababa (Many people who are eligible for booster shots are not taking it, so the immunity of the population is gradually waning)," she said.

“Pinapaalalahanan ang ating mga kababayan (We are reminding our citizens) to continue to practice the minimum public health standards and importante rin yung pagbabakuna (vaccination is also important), especially the booster doses of those eligible population,” said Vergeire.