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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Vergeire allays House members' concerns on rising Covid cases

Vergeire allays House members' concerns on rising Covid cases

Published May 4, 2023 06:04 am
Department of Health (DOH) Officer-in-Charge Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire (Malacañang photo)






Department of Health (DOH) Officer-in-Charge Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire allayed concerns from House of Representatives members on Thursday, May 4 regarding the increase in local Covid-19 cases. This, as Vergeire told the lawmakers during a House Committee on Appropriations hearing that over 90 percent of the Covid-19 infections being recorded daily are "mild and asymptomatic cases". "We're averaging around 822 cases per day. This is about 79 percent higher than the previous two weeks of cases," Vergeire told the panel, which is chaired by Ako Bicol Party-list Rep. Zaldy Co. "Most of these cases are mild and asymptomatic cases. We will have about 8 to 9 percent of those with Covid that are classified as severe and critical," she said. As for the new "Arcturus" variant of Covid-19 that has been reported spreading across the globe, Vergeire said DOH has only detected one local case so far. "Isa palang po ang detection natin haggang sa ngayon (We've only detected one case so far). We're waiting of the latest chain sequencing results to see--kasi nag-case investigation kami--kung kumalat sa ibang lugar (we carried out case investigation and we want to see if it has spread to other places)," she said. Covid-19 first emerged in the country in early 2020. Filipinos have for the most part learned to live with the virus. Vergeire also told solons that at present, healthcare utilization in connection with Covid-19 is below 20 percent. "Meaning wala pong masyadong naoospital (This means that few get hospitalized)," she noted. If anything, Vergeire said DOH is keeping an eye on hospitals that have few ICU beds. The panel hearing was an oversight meeting on the budgetary performance of DOH.

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DOH OIC covid-19 House of Representatives Maria Rosario Vergeire Arcturus
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