MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) on Tuesday said it recorded a slight rise in COVID-19 infections nationwide but explained that it is “not significant” enough to implement restrictions in the country.
In a press briefing on Tuesday, Health officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said that the nationwide average daily infections rose to 207 from March 21 to 27 from the previous week’s 156.
“So ‘pag tinignan natin tumaas nga pero kakaunti, and like we always say, nagmomonitor kami and nakikita natin na may konting pagtaas sa bawat lugar, but it is not significant for us to say na kailangan na ulit natin ng restrictions,” said Vergeire.
(So when we look at the increase, it is still small, and like we always say, we are monitoring, and we see that there is a slight increase in each place, but it is not significant for us to say that we need restrictions again.)
Further, Vergeire added that hospitals in the country continue to have manageable admissions, as well as the number of severe and critical cases and deaths.
She then explained that these kinds of increases and and decreases are expected due to the continuous presence of the virus in the country, reminding the public to continue practicing minimum public health standards to avoid getting infected by COVID-19.
“Because the virus is here to stay, what would be most important would be alam ng mga tao ano nangyayari, alam nila kung ano ang gagawin para proteksyunan ang kanilang sarili and ang ating sistema ay handa para matugunan ang anumang pagtaas o pagbaba ng mga kaso ang ating mararanasan,” said Vergeire.
(Because the virus is here to stay, what would be most important would be that people know what is happening, they know what to do to protect themselves, and our system is ready to meet any increase or decrease in cases that we will experience.)
Based on the DOH’s online tracker, the country’s total COVID-19 caseload is currently at 4,080,410 nationwide, with 4,005,442 recoveries, 66,342 deaths, and 8,626 active infections.
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