DOH advice on holiday shopping amid pandemic: Just do it online

MANILA, Philippines – With the Christmas and New Year holidays drawing near, the Department of Health (DOH) urges the public to just shop and meet family and friends online to reduce the risk of transmitting the new coronavirus.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire on Monday said that while the DOH understood the public’s excitement about Christmas shopping and being able to do other holiday rituals, it was concerned over a possible surge in infections as people gathered in shopping malls and commercial districts.

“Let us remember that the virus is still here. Even if you are wearing your mask and face shield, but would go to a crowded place, you could still get infected. The risk is there and it is very high,” Vergeire said.

Alternative ways

Vergeire issued the reminder after shoppers were shown on the network news crowding the streets of Divisoria in Manila during the weekend to beat the holiday rush. She asked the public to find alternative ways by which they could welcome the holidays.

“We advise everyone to opt for online activities such as online Masses, make video calls with friends and relatives, and if possible just shop online. In these ways, we reduce the possibility or chance of us being infected or infecting others with COVID-19,” she said.

On Monday, the DOH recorded 1,799 additional infections, pushing the national tally to 420,614.

Cavite reported the most number of cases, 154, followed by Rizal (114), Quezon City (99), Bulacan (76) and Laguna (67).

The DOH said 135 more patients had recovered from COVID-19, raising the total number of survivors to 386,604. But the death toll rose to 8,173 as 50 more patients succumbed to the severe respiratory disease.

The recoveries and deaths left the country with 25,837 active cases, or 6.1 percent of the total, of which 83.5 percent were mild, 7.8 percent asymptomatic, 0.26 percent moderate, 2.9 percent severe, and 5.5 percent critical.

For the first time since June, the daily positivity rate, or the number of people who tested positive for the virus, dropped to below 5 percent. Of the 19,178 tests done on Monday noon, 853 came back positive, or a positivity rate of 4.4 percent.

The World Health Organization (WHO) earlier set a benchmark positivity rate of less than 5 percent.

Vergeire said the DOH had observed new cases continuing to plateau to fewer than 2,000 in the last few weeks. But she acknowledged that some areas such as Davao were still being monitored to ensure the local health system could cope with the increase in infections.

The health official said that based on the latest information, the WHO-led Solidarity Trials on Vaccines would still proceed as scheduled in December. The world health body, however, still has not provided the list of the candidate vaccines that will be used in the trial, which will be participated in by 4,000 Filipinos.

Plans not yet final

In response to Vice President Leni Robredo’s suggestion that vaccine recipients be named already, Vergeire said the DOH couldn’t do that just yet as it was still finalizing plans for the procurement of the vaccine.

“Until we can have a final list of the vaccines that we are going to procure, we can’t identify yet who are those who will be vaccinated,” she said.

With regard to making an advance payment for the purchase of the vaccine, Vergeire said President Rodrigo Duterte had approved the prepayment to Pfizer. The American pharmaceutical company, which is scheduled to apply in the United States for an emergency use authorization this week, earlier said its vaccine was 95 percent effective against COVID-19.

Due to the confidentiality disclosure agreement it has with Pfizer, the government cannot disclose yet how many doses it will purchase and for how much.