The Department of Health (DOH) considered 10 regions in the country as being under high risk classification for COVID-19 due to the increasing number of cases and rate of hospital utilization.
The high risk regions are National Capital Region (NCR), Calabarzon, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), Ilocos Region, Central Visayas, Western Visayas, Northern Mindanao, and Davao Region.
These areas have recorded a high average daily attack rate (ADAR) and intensive care unit (ICU) occupancy. DOH data show that nationwide cases from Aug. 19 to 25 were around 15,000, which is higher than last week’s peak.
“Tayo ay nagsimula kasi ngayon na around an average of 5,000 cases per day. And we will really see, as we haven’t felt the full effect of our ECQ, there is really a probability that we will still see additional cases,” Dr. Alethea de Guzman of DOH Epidemiology Bureau said.
Amid the increasing cases is the Delta variant threat which now has 482 cases in NCR, 182 in Region 4-A, and 156 in Region 3. All regions have Delta cases, except the Bangsamoro Region.
De Guzman said this may also be due to the limited number of samples collected for genomic sequencing.
In a statement today (Aug. 27), the DOH said the country’s biosurveillance capacity will be expanded through the approval of a P295.7 million budget for Philippine Genome Center’s (PGC) expansion in Visayas and Mindanao.
“By strengthening the country’s biosurveillance capacity, we hope to prevent future outbreaks of diseases in the Philippines,” DOH Sec. Francisco Duque III said.
Continuous vaccination needed
Speaking at the Aug. 27 Laging Handa briefing, infectious disease expert Dr. Edsel Salvana said the country should keep on vaccinating its people and observe minimum health standards amid the threat of Delta and rising cases.
“Kasi iyong vaccination is, parang iyon iyong pinaka-last line of defense natin in the sense na kahit makalusot siya dito sa ating mga ginagawang mask, face shield. Kapag tinamaan ka ng COVID, your risk of ending up in the hospital and dying from COVID goes down by 90%,” Salvana said.
“So kahit maraming-marami pa iyong kaso na iyan, kung karamihan diyan ay bakunado, then the number of cases that need to be hospitalized, the number of people of people who will die will go down by 90%,” he added.
He said vaccination efforts should continue to be strengthened in line with the decision on the quarantine classifications for September, adding the Delta tsunami will still hit the country despite prolonged enhanced community quarantine (ECQ).
“Ang bilis po talaga noong kalat dito, and the best way to protect the health system is to reduce the proportion who will need hospitalization and the only way is really with as high a vaccination rate as possible,” he said.
Meanwhile, he said the full approval granted by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine does not make it an over-the-counter product.
“[May] prescription pa rin iyan, kinakailangan pa ring dumaan sa doctor. Bagama’t magiging mas madali mag-procure noong vaccine kung mayroon na tayong full approval dito. Kasi iyong sa U.S. na full approval, that makes it easier for full approval to happen in other countries,” he said. – Report from Mark Fetalco/AG- jlo
