DOH warns against ‘complacency’ in COVID-19 fight

NO ‘FAN’ OF COVID-19 A staff member of handicraft shop Tesoros opens a fan with a message for the times. —MARIANNE BERMUDEZ

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) on Monday said the COVID-19 situation was “improving,” but it was not yet saying the health crisis was over as it might make people drop health standards that had been imposed to curb the transmission of the new coronavirus.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said that based on DOH indicators, such as the transmission rate, mortality doubling time, and critical care capacity, “we can see that somehow our situation is improving.”

“But we always say that nothing is certain at this point. We just continue to monitor our situation. We continue to do our strategies so we can further decrease the number of [new] cases and transmission rate,” she said.

Curve flattened

Earlier, the University of the Philippines (UP) OCTA Research team said the country had already flattened the curve as the reproductive number of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19 was now below 1. Latest DOH data show the reproductive number is 0.877, which indicates the country is on the “right direction” with regard to its outbreak response, Vergeire said.

“But we avoid saying [we have flattened the curve] because we do not want that there would be complacency among the population,” she said.

For the DOH, flattening the curve means the government is able to spread its COVID-19 cases over “a longer period of time so that our health system will not be overwhelmed.”

Before Metro Manila was reverted to lockdown last month, critical care capacity reached 81 percent. Now, the critical care capacity in the metropolis, where cases remain concentrated, hovers at 66 percent.

“We can say that the strategies we are doing are working. Although not immediate, we can see that somehow we are able to decongest our hospitals,” Vergeire said.

From 0.96 days in March, it now takes 15.09 days for the number of new deaths to double. In June, new deaths doubled every 8.29 days.

For the third straight day, the DOH saw the national caseload increase by fewer than 3,000 as only 1,383 cases were recorded on Monday, bringing the total to 238,727.

Since the start of the month, new cases only went over 3,000 on Sept. 1 and 4.

Incomplete submissions

The lower number of new cases, however, may be because only 88 of the 115 accredited laboratories submitted data to the DOH. Of the new cases, 1,206 got sick between Aug. 25 and Sept. 7, while 110 fell ill between Aug. 1 and 24.

Metro Manila remained to have the highest number of new infections, 525, followed by Laguna (137), Batangas (99), Negros Occidental (77) and Cavite (69).

The DOH said 230 more patients had recovered, raising the total of COVID-19 survivors to 184,906. The death toll, however, increased to 3,890 with the deaths of 15 more patients.

The recoveries and deaths left the country with 49,931 active cases, of which 88.3 percent were mild, 8.3 percent asymptomatic, 1.4 percent severe, and 2 percent critical.

Of the newly reported deaths, three died this month, one in August, five in July, two in June, two in May, one in April and one in March. Eleven of the fatalities were from Metro Manila, two from Western Visayas, one from Eastern Visayas and one from Calabarzon.

The National Task Force Against COVID-19 on Monday patted itself on the back, citing the UP researchers’ findings.

“This is good news because it means the steps we have taken against the pandemic have borne fruit,” said Carlito Galvez Jr., the task force chief.

Still no vaccine

Galvez, however, urged the public to continue observing minimum health standards—wearing protective masks, physical distancing, frequent hand-washing—to prevent a resurgence of the coronavirus.

“Even if we flatten the curve, we cannot grow complacent, particularly when a vaccine against the disease has not yet been developed,” Galvez said.

Malacañang called on the public to help sustain the gains of the two-week light lockdown in August, which presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said helped to tamp down the transmission of the virus.

Roque, however, declined to say whether the government would now ease the general community quarantine in Metro Manila.

He instead urged the public to observe the minimum health standards to avoid a fresh surge of infections.

—With reports from Jeannette I. Andrade and Julie M. Aurelio