Philippines remains at low risk for COVID-19, says DOH

Amid the observed slight increase of COVID-19 cases in the past two weeks, the Philippines remains at low risk for COVID-19, the Department of Health (DOH) announced Tuesday.

In a media briefing, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said that the country’s average daily attack rate (ADAR) remained less than 1, making it low risk.

However, she said the positivity rate also slightly increased to 1.1% compared to last week.

Meanwhile, Vergeire said the National Capital Region (NCR) plus areas and the rest of Luzon also recorded a slow increase in cases in mid–May.

“Pero mapapansin na nitong kasalukuyan, unti-unti namang bumaba ang mga kasong ito sa plus areas atsaka sa rest of Luzon,” Vergeire said.

(But you can notice that currently, cases are slowly going down here in plus areas and in the rest of Luzon.)

She said cases also plateaued in Visayas and Mindanao.

“Bagama’t nakakakita tayo ng pagtaas ng mga kaso sa ilang bahagi ng bansa, ang NCR at iba pang island groups ay nanatiling mayroon lang less than 100 cases since early April of 2022,” she said.

(Though we are noticing a slight increase in cases in some parts of the country, NCR and other island groups have less than 100 new cases since early April.)

“Gayon pa man nananatili pa rin mababa ang ating COVID-19 cases kaya naman patuloy po tayong isabuhay ang ating minimum public health standards at magpabakuna na para maiwasan ang further transmission at mutation ng virus,” she added.

(Though our country still has a low number of COVID-19 cases, let us continue following minimum public health standards and get vaccinated to avoid further transmission and mutation of the virus.)

According to Vergeire, more than half of national admissions are mild and asymptomatic COVID-19 cases while severe and critical admissions decreased from 679 to 599 this week.

She said the national healthcare utilization rate remains at low risk at 14.67% to 17.76% in all regions.

Meanwhile, more than 69.5 million Filipinos or 77% of the target population have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

Data also showed that 9.4 million adolescents aged 12 to 17 have been fully inoculated while 2.9 million minors aged 5 to 11 have been fully vaccinated.—LDF, GMA News