By Joyce Ann L. Rocamora | Philippine News Agency
MANILA – The Philippines’ coronavirus risk classification is down from high and critical to moderate, the Department of Health (DOH) reported Wednesday (Feb. 2).
“We show a negative one-week and two-week growth rate. Ang average daily attack rate natin nasa high risk pa rin pero bumaba siya sa 19.43 cases for every 100,000 individuals (Our average daily attack rate is still at high risk but it already went down to 19.43 cases for every 100,000 individuals),” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a briefing.
In addition, the utilization rates of hospital and intensive care unit beds are both at “low risk”.
Vergeire said the national positivity rate declined to 35.4% from the 46.8% peak on Jan. 18.
She said cases continue to decrease in Regions 3 (Central Luzon), 4-A (Calabarzon), and Metro Manila, while others are still seeing a high number of infections.
“But if we look at the trends in the number of cases, especially the seven-day moving average, nagpla-plateau na. In Visayas, bumabagal na ‘yong pagtaas ng kaso sa kanila hindi na masyadong nag-a-uptick (it’s plateauing. In Visayas, the increase is slowing down),” she said.
“Sa Mindanao, may mga piling lugar katulad ng Caraga at Region 12 kung saan may pagtaas ng pag-utilize ng kama so binabantayan nang maigi ito (In Mindanao, there are certain areas like Caraga and Region 12 where we are still seeing high utilization rate of beds. We are monitoring this),” she added.
The Philippines has so far recorded 3,577,298 confirmed COVID-19 cases since the outbreak began, of which 160,297 are undergoing treatment, 3,362,904 have recovered, and 54,097 died. (PNA) -ag
