COVID-19 cases surging in all regions and provinces, says DOH

FILE PHOTO/JAM STA ROSA, AFP

MANILA, Philippines — In all provinces and regions in the country, the number of COVID-19 cases is rising, the Department of Health (DOH) reported on Tuesday.

Dr. Alethea De Guzman, director of the Epidemiology Bureau of the DOH, provided the information during the House briefing on the COVID-19 situation in the country.

“We have now observed an increase in cases across all regions, provinces, highly urbanized cities, and independent component cities but there are still areas whose counts are lower than what we are seeing now in the NCR (National Capital Region) Plus, but we’re already seeing continuous and swift increases,” De Guzman said.

De Guzman said that the increase in cases in NCR Plus—which includes Metro Manila, Cavite, Laguna, Bulacan, and Rizal—Rizal—is higher than the peak the country had in September 2021 due to the Delta variant.

According to De Guzman, the current surge shows fewer hospitalizations and fewer severe and critical cases.

“These case increases that we’ve seen especially in the NCR are driven by Omicron but are also facilitated by increased mobility, our reduced compliance to minimum public health standard, as well as delays in detection and isolation,” De Guzman said.

On Monday, the Philippines logged 37,070 additional coronavirus infections, pushing the country’s total case count to over 3.24 million, with over 290,000 currently sick with COVID-19.

Although it’s not the highest number of cases since the start of the pandemic, Monday’s caseload is still among the highest DOH has seen in its history, with a 46-percent positivity rate of the 77,410 tests conducted.

READ: PH logs 37,070 more COVID-19 cases; over 33K others recover

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