Philippines at 'high risk' for COVID-19, says DOH

The Philippines is now again classified as "high risk" for COVID-19 following the sharp increase in cases in the past few days, the Department of Health (DOH) said on Monday.

At a virtual briefing, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the increase in positivity rate was seen in all regions of the country.

“Nationally, we are now at high risk case classification from low risk case class in the previous week, showing a positive two-week growth rate at 222% and a moderate risk average daily attack rate at 1.07 cases for every 100,000 individuals,” she said.

National healthcare utilization rate, meanwhile, is at “low risk,” with the total bed utilization at 18% and intensive care units (ICU) utilization at 22%, she added.

The Philippines has 21,418 active COVID-19 cases as of January 2, 2022 with a seven-day growth rate of 569.86%. 

Likewise, the National Capital Region (NCR) -- with its 857.94% seven-day growth rate and 813% two-week growth rate as of January 2 -- is at high risk, Vergeire said.

“[It showed] a high risk one-week growth rate and two-week growth rate and moderate risk average daily attack rate of 5.42 cases per 100,000 population,” she said.

The health system capacity in the NCR is under 50% utilization, Vergeire added.

Based on DOH’s recent COVID-19 tally, 27% of the ICU beds and 26% of ward beds in the NCR were utilized.

NCR has been placed again under Alert Level 3 from January 3 to 15, 2022 amid the increase in COVID-19 infections.

Under Alert Level 3, several establishments will be allowed to operate at 30% indoor venue capacity only for fully vaccinated individuals and 50% outdoor venue capacity, provided that all employees are fully vaccinated.

Face-to-face classes, contact sports, funfairs/perya, and casinos are among the activities and establishments that are prohibited under Alert Level 3.

Work at government offices, meanwhile, is limited to 60% of their onsite capacity.

Meanwhile, Regions IV-A, III, IX, X, and XI also recorded positive one-week and two-week growth rates and are at “low to moderate risk” classification.

“The rest of the regions showed a positive increase in cases only in the recent one week,” Vergeire said.

The DOH has warned of "exponential growth" following the detection of three cases of the highly transmissible Omicron coronavirus variant. 

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III earlier said the Omicron variant may already be responsible for the rise in COVID-19 cases in the country.  —KBK, GMA News