DOH: All regions now ‘minimal risk’ for COVID-19

The Department of Health (DOH) on Tuesday said all regions in the country remained at “minimal risk” in terms of COVID-19 case classification as the number of infections slowed down.

In a media forum, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire also said the health systems capacity is at “low risk.”

“Patuloy po ang dating ng magagandang balita dahil pababa na
po nang pababa ang mga kaso ng COVID-19 sa lahat ng lugar sa ating bansa. Dahil dito po lahat ng rehiyon natin ay nananatiling nasa minimal risk case
classification at may low risk health systems capacity,” she said.

(We note the good news of continuous decrease in COVID-19 cases in all areas of the country.  Because of this, all our regions are now at minimal risk case classification and our health systems capacity is at low risk.)

According to the DOH, minimal risk is the lowest risk case classification for COVID-19.

The Health official reported that average daily cases per day in the current week is lower by 13% than last week.

The average daily reported cases from March 15 to 21 are 490, while logging 564 cases from March 8 to 14.

Vergeire said that COVID-19 severe and critical hospital admissions have declined from 1,874 to 805 cases since January. Most of those hospitalized only experienced mild, asymptomatic and moderate symptoms.

“Ang pagbaba ng mga malulubha at kritikal na kaso ay bunga ng patuloy nating pagsunod sa ating minimum public health standards at pagkukumpleto ng ating primary series at booster shots for vaccination. Patotoo po ito na ang ating mga bakuna ay talagang ligtas at garantisadong mabisa laban sa COVID-19,” she said.

(The decrease in serious and critical cases is a result of our continued compliance with our minimum public health standards and the completion of our primary series and booster shots for vaccination. This is proof that our vaccines are actually safe and guaranteed to be effective against COVID-19.)

Vaccination drive surpasses target

The national government has surpassed its target vaccinees in the fourth wave of the "Bayanihan, Bakunahan" national vaccination drive this month, according to Vergeire.

She said at least 115% of the target population got inoculated with first dose, while 134% of the target vaccinees received second dose.

Meanwhile, at least 70% of the target population got their booster shots.

The DOH was aiming to administer a total of 1.87 million vaccine doses during the latest vaccination drive.

Vergeire said among those who got vaccinated were indigenous people living in "geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas."

The vaccination drive was originally scheduled for March 10 to 12 but was later extended for the general population until Tuesday and for senior citizens until March 18.

Fourth dose for elderly and immunocompromised

Vergeire said the DOH has already submitted an application before the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the amendment of COVID-19 vaccines emergency use authorization (EUA) to include a fourth dose for the senior citizens and immunocompromised individuals.

“Meron na po tayong rekomendasyon na initial galing sa Vaccine Expert Panel (VEP) tungkol po dito sa fourth dose. Ito po ay nairecommenda ng ating VEP sa mga senior citizens at immunocompromised,” she said.

(We already have an initial recommendation from the Vaccine Expert Panel (VEP) regarding this fourth dose. This is recommended by our VEP for senior citizens and immunocompromised.)

“Ito po ay napag-usapan na rin sa all experts group, inaantay na lang po natin, nagsubmit na po ang DOH ng application sa FDA para po sa ating amendment ng EUA for this fourth doses. So we will wait for the decision of the FDA on this and after that we will discuss for possible implementation,” she added.

(This has already been discussed in the all experts group, we are just waiting, the DOH has already submitted an application to the FDA for our amendment of the EUA for these fourth doses.)

The VEP earlier said that since the immunocompromised receive three primary series of COVID-19 vaccine, their fourth dose may serve as their booster shot.

The Department of Health (DOH) is administering third doses to senior citizens and immunocompromised, while booster shots are given to those who have finished the three to six-month requirement after receiving their second dose.—LDF, GMA News