By Mark Fetalco
The Department of Health (DOH) said local cases of the Delta variant have been detected in nine regions in the country, the majority of which are found in the National Capital Region (NCR), Region 7, and Region 4A.
As of Aug. 4, NCR has 46 cases, Region 7 has 32, Region 4A has 28, Region 3 has 20, Region 10 has 14, Region 8 has 10, Regions 1 and 6 have five each, and Region 11 has four.
“We’re actually seeing the impact of Delta both nationally and in the selected regions and areas. We’ve seen that more than half of provinces, HUCs [highly urbanized cities] and ICCs [independent component cities] are already showing an increase in cases and/or health care utilization,” DOH Epidemiology Bureau Director Dr. Alethea De Guzman said.
More than 7,200 daily COVID-19 cases were reported nationally from July 28 to Aug. 3, which the DOH said is 15% higher than the previous week’s figures.
The NCR, Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), Region 1, 2, 7, and 10 have been classified as high risk for COVID-19.
The DOH also flagged Pateros and Malabon in NCR as under critical risk, and 13 other areas under high risk category. Muntinlupa, Las Piñas, and Quezon City are included in the 23 areas with high to critical healthcare or intensive care unit (ICU) occupancy.
The DOH said it saw an increase in the number of pending admissions in hospitals’ emergency rooms since the end of June, which is a similar situation experienced by hospitals during the March to April surge.
“It’s either because they are awaiting for additional procedures to be done, or because there is no available bed na ma-admit sila,” De Guzman said.
Dr. John Wong, a member of the Inter-Agency Task Force’s (IATF) technical working group on data analytics, suggested making use of the two-week enhanced community quarantine in NCR to vaccinate the most vulnerable populations.
“More important than how many people you vaccinate a day is who you vaccinate. If the pandemic is characterized by an increase in hospitalization and deaths, then the best way to decrease hospitalization and deaths is to select the population at high risk and these are the people more than 50 years-old,” Wong said. /AG-rir
