Blood sample test tube for COVID-19 test. STOCK PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) is projecting up to 4,600 COVID-19 daily cases in the National Capital Region by mid-July amid the public’s increased mobility and declining compliance with minimum public health standards.
“May updated projections po tayo kung saan ang ginamit po na assumptions, unang-una yung mataas na mobility sa ating bansa, and then second yung pag-decline ng compliance sa minimum public health standards,” DOH Undersecretary Ma. Rosario Vergeire said in an interview over Teleradyo on Tuesday.
(We have updated projections wherein we used as assumptions the increased mobility in our country, and second is the declining compliance with minimum public health standards.)
According to Vergeire, the public’s compliance with minimum health protocols declined by 21 percent.
“Currently po ang decline na po natin sa pag-comply ay 21 percent, ‘pag ganito po ang nangyari, we are seeing that by the middle of July, baka tumaas pa ang ating daily cases dito sa National Capital Region from 3,800 to 4,600,” she said.
(Currently, the compliance has declined by 21 percent, if this happens we are seeing that by the middle of July, our daily cases here in the National Capital Region may increase from 3,800 to 4,600.)
“So ito po yung atin pong bagong projections compared ito sa number of daily cases natin sa ngayon [So these are our new projections compared to the number of daily cases now],” she added.
On Monday, the DOH reported a total of 4,634 new COVID-19 cases in the country between June 20 and 26, an increase of 53 percent compared with the 3,051 cases logged in the previous week.
“Nakikita nga natin na tuloy tuloy tumataas ang mga kaso dito sa ating bansa and nakita rin po natin na mukhang pati yung positivity rate natin ay tumataas,” Vergeire said.
(We are seeing a continuous increase of cases here in our country and we are also seeing that our positivity rate is increasing as well.)
However, the DOH official stressed that no significant increase in severe and critical cases has been recorded.
Hospital admissions, she added, are also still “manageable.”
“Less than 20 percent pa ho ang ating healthcare utilization rate [Our healthcare utilization rate is still less than 20 percent],” Vergeire said.