New PH infections below 2,000 for 10th straight day

The Department of Health (DOH) reported 1,337 additional coronavirus infections on Thursday, the 10th consecutive day of fewer than 2,000 daily cases, pushing the overall confirmed COVID-19 cases to 413,430.

The DOH recorded 41 more deaths, including 10 people who were previously reported as recovered, raising the death toll to 7,998.

Active cases

It said 286 more patients had recovered, bringing the overall number of COVID-19 survivors to 374,939. The deaths and recoveries left the country with 30,493 active cases, or 7.4 percent of the total confirmed cases since the coronavirus outbreak started in January.

Of the active cases, 84.5 percent, or 25,766, were mild; 8 percent, or 2,439, showed no symptoms; 0.21 percent, or 64, were moderate; 2.5 percent, or 762, were severe; and 4.7 percent, or 1,433, were critical.

The DOH said 11 laboratories were not able to submit their data.

Meanwhile, the DOH said it was monitoring a rise in COVID-19 cases in Davao City and the high critical care use rate in the Davao region.

It said it was also monitoring a spike in infections in Baguio City.

“We have seen a rise in cases in Baguio City in October but the number of new cases has plateaued over the past month,” the DOH said in a statement.

Community transmission

“[But] the rise in Davao City is continuous as of this time … Transmission in these areas were identified in communities and closed settings,” it added.

Critical care occupancy in hospitals in the Davao region was 72 percent as of the latest report, the DOH also said.

The Octa research group has recently tagged Davao City and Baguio City as “hot spots of serious concern.”

Meanwhile, President Rodrigo Duterte has allowed advance payment for COVID-19 vaccines, and regulators to authorize emergency use to ensure that the Philippines will have access to vaccines when these become available.

Mr. Duterte’s action is a turnaround from his position in September that he did not want to pay cash advances for vaccines.Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque on Thursday said the Philippines would now enter into advance market commitments with vaccine developers that would require advance payments.

Mr. Duterte approved a recommendation for the arrangement, Roque said.

“If we did not, we may be left behind by other countries that would get the vaccine. I know the President did not want this at first, but when he saw the list of countries making advance payments, he did not want the Philippines left behind as long as it has the funds,” Roque said at a press briefing.

Modes of financing

He said the President approved various modes of financing vaccine purchases, including private-public tripartite agreements that would cost the government nothing.

The other modes are direct procurement, multilateral loans, and bilateral loans.

Roque said Mr. Duterte would also issue an executive order to allow the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to grant emergency use authorization, which would speed up the Philippines’ use of COVID-19 vaccines already approved for emergency use in other countries.

Once the order is issued, the usual six-month process of approving vaccines can be reduced to 21 days, he said.

Carlito Galvez Jr., head of the National Task Force Against COVID-19, said the Philippines was in talks with vaccine developers in China, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

The country is talking to 17 developers, three of them close to getting approval for trials in the Philippines, Galvez said.

FDA Administrator Eric Domingo said five vaccine developers had signified intent to conduct clinical trials here.

He said the Philippines had to look at more than one vaccine supplier because one supplier alone would not be able to handle all of the country’s needs, given the high demand for a vaccine.