The Department of Health (DOH) said Wednesday the country’s current number of COVID-19 cases nationwide has surpassed the peak in July 2020, with cases coming mostly from Metro Manila and CALABARZON.
According to DOH-Epidemiology Bureau Director Dr. Alethea de Guzman, the number of new COVID-19 cases this March is now four times higher compared to the figures tallied at the start of January.
“Nung simula ng taon [At the start of the year], nationally, we were reporting 1,274. In the past week, we’re now reporting 5,644,” de Guzman said in an online media forum.
Based on DOH data, cases continue to increase faster nationally at a 79% two-week growth rate and an average daily attack rate (ADAR) of 3.69.
Among all the regions in the country, the National Capital Region is now classified as “high risk” based on its ADAR of 14.9.
“Twice higher na ‘yung ating peak nitong [Our peak is twice higher this] March compared to the peak we saw last August. Ang NCR cities natin ay naka-high at critical risk na po [Our NCR cities are at high (risk) and critical risk],” de Guzman said.
The critical risk areas in NCR are Marikina, Mandaluyong, Caloocan, San Juan, Pasig, Muntinlupa, Pateros, Quezon City, and Parañaque. The remaining areas are at high risk classification.
Meanwhile, de Guzman said while the average regional healthcare utilization rate remains in the “safe zone”, two regional areas are now at critical risk while seven are classified as high risk as of March 18.
She added that seven out of the 17 regions have shown an increase in their healthcare utilization since February 17, including NCR which showed the highest increase at 21%, followed by Calabarzon at 19%.
De Guzman pointed out that among the components of the healthcare utilization, what’s important to consider are the intensive care units as these may indicate the capacity of hospitals to manage severe or critical diseases and minimize preventable deaths.
She also added: “Sa ngayon, itong buwan ng Marso, hindi pa tayo nakakita ng pagtaas ng dami ng deaths. Nakaka-10 deaths a day tayo [This March, we have not seen an increase in the number of deaths. We have about 10 deaths a day]. It is one of the lowest, since the start of the pandemic.”
De Guzman emphasized that the impact of the stricter restrictions being imposed by the government to curb the number of increasing cases cannot be felt within just two weeks.
“Sa ngayon, di pa tayo nakakakita ng [For now, we have not seen any] significant improvement to any of our actions. But again, our message is this is not something that we will see in a week or two, it will really take us additional weeks,” she said. – Mark Fetalco
