The Philippines is back to low-risk case classification for COVID-19 with a two week growth rate (2WGR) of -48% and average daily attack rate (ADAR) of 5.89 per 100,000 population.
The Department of Health (DOH) in its Oct. 25 Beat COVID-19 Media Forum said all regions have recorded negative 2WGR and are under low to moderate risk classification.
The Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), Regions 2, 9, 4B, 1, and Metro Manila still have ADARs under high risk classification.
DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the national healthcare utilization is at moderate risk, but six Regions 2, 9, and 5 have high risk intensive care unit (ICU) utilization.
The average daily reported cases in the country also went down from the 7,726 figures between Oct. 11 to 17, to 5,251 between Oct. 18 to 24.
The OCTA Research Group said the reproduction number in Metro Manila slightly increased to 0.48 from 0.45. The OCTA Group said there’s no indication yet of an upward trend in the region, especially since its seven-day average fell to 945.
Delta threat
The Philippines reported 380 more cases of the highly transmissible Delta variant and the first case of the b.1.1.318 or a variant under monitoring by the World Health Organization (WHO).
“Pinag-aaralan po itong maigi ng WHO, ng mga international experts, dahil ito pong mga mutations na ito ay maaaring makaapekto rin sa ating efficacy ng bakuna, maaari ding makaapekto sa transmission ng sakit,” Vergeire said.
In line with this, the DOH has given the go signal for booster and additional shots of COVID-19 vaccines for healthcare workers and immunocompromised individuals.
Vergeire said they are targeting to administer the boosters and third doses by November or December should the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) amend the emergency use authorization on existing vaccines.
“Nakapagpadala na po tayo ng inisyal na sulat sa FDA on our intent to apply for this EUA. So naisubmit na po natin ‘yan sa FDA ngayon nagkakalap po tayo ng mga documents requirement,” she said. – Report from Mark Fetalco/AG-rir
