DOH sees ‘unsustained’ uptick in Metro Manila COVID-19 cases
MANILA, Philippines — While another uptick in new COVID-19 cases has been observed in the National Capital Region (NCR), Department of Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire assured that it remains “unsustained” since a spike in severe and critical infections has not been recorded
In a Laging Handa briefing on Saturday, she noted that the COVID-19 positivity rate in the region has increased to 1.6 percent over the past week.
Vergeire added that among the 17 areas classified under NCR, 14 have exhibited a slight rise in reported COVID-19 cases.
“Nadadagdagan po ang kaso pero katulad nga ng sabi natin, hindi pa siya ganoon ka-significant because ‘yong admissions sa mga hospital ay hindi naman tumataas pa at ang ating severe and critical [cases], hindi rin mataas,” she stressed.
(We’re seeing a rise in COVID-19 cases but as we said before, it isn’t too significant because the hospital admissions and the count of severe and critical cases have not increased.)
The Health Undersecretary further explained that this may be caused by the entry of new and highly transmissible Omicron subvariants in the country, as well as the “waning immunity in our population.”
“Marami pa rin pong kababayan natin ang hindi kumukuha ng kanilang booster [shots] and therefore, maaaring maging factor din ito sa pagtaas ng kaso dito sa NCR at sa ibang area ng ating bansa,” she added.
(Many Filipinos have not yet availed of their booster shots and this may be a factor in the increasing COVID-19 cases not just in NCR, but also in other areas of the country.)
Based on the latest government data, the country currently has 2,697 active COVID-19 cases after 287 were added on Friday.
Nearly 69.7 million Filipinos have been fully vaccinated against the virus, but the number of those who have received their first booster dose lags behind at around 14.5 million.
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