MANILA, Philippines — The health care utilization rate in all regions in the country are in the “safe zone,” except for some provinces and cities where hospitals remain overwhelmed by the coronavirus pandemic, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said on Monday during the pre-recorded weekly address of President Rodrigo Duterte.
He did not, however, specify those areas that remained in the “moderate to critical zone.”
Critical level means hospitals have already utilized over 85 percent of their capacity, while moderate risk level means 60 to 70 percent of facilities are already in use.
Hospitals are classified in the safe level if the utilization rate is below 60 percent.
“We need an aggressive implementation of our response strategies to stop the spread of Covid-19 variants in areas of concern,” Duque said in Filipino.
On Monday, the Department of Health reported 1,685 new Covid-19 infections, driving the total active cases nationwide to 27,588.
The DOH also reported 14 new recoveries and two deaths, increasing the tally of recovered patients and fatalities to 511,755 and 11,517, respectively.
All in all, the country’s Covid-19 case count has reached 550,860 as of Feb. 15.
Duque advised cities and provinces to implement stricter protocols in preventing the spread of Covid-19.
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