MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) identified on Saturday five regions with critical case risk classification for COVID-19.
According to Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire, these regions are Metro Manila, Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon), Cagayan Valley, the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), and Central Luzon.
“Lahat ng ating regions sa country ngayon ay may high-risk risk classification. Mayroon tayong limang areas sa bansa na critical ang case risk classification. Ito ang NCR (National Capital Region), Region 4A, Region 2, CAR, and Region 3,” Vergeire said at the Laging Handa public briefing.
(All regions in the country are at high-risk risk classification. Five areas in the country are under critical case risk classification. These are NCR, Region 4A, Region 2, CAR, and Region 3.)
Meanwhile, Vergeire said several regions have also shown spikes in their two-week growth rate of new COVID-19 cases.
“Sa ngayon, nakikita natin ‘yung mga karatig na bahagi ng National Capital Region katulad ng Region 4A, Region 3, CAR, and Regions 6, 8, 5, halos lahat talaga ay may pagtaas sa ngayon ng kanilang two-week growth rate and their average daily attack rate,” she added.
(Right now, we have observed that regions nearby Metro Manila like Region 4A and Region 3, as well as CAR, Regions 6, 8, and 5 are seeing an increase in two-week growth rate and average daily attack rate.)
Vergeire said the trend of COVID-19 cases in other regions was similar to the trend of infections in Metro Manila at the beginning of the latest surge.
“Kapag tiningnan natin ito, mukhang talagang darating ang panahon na madidisplace na at magiging Omicron variant and dominant variant sa ating bansa kung magtutuloy-tuloy ang ganitong transmission,” she added.
(Considering this observation, we may really come to a point when Omicron will be the dominant variant in the country if this trend of transmission continues.)
At present, the Delta variant first detected in India is still the most dominant variant of SARS-CoV-2 in the country.
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