MASK ON | People heading to their home provinces for the recent Holy Week break wait for buses at Parañaque Integrated Terminal Exchange in Parañaque City. Many of them wear masks to comply with health and safety protocols in public transport. (Photo by RICHARD A. REYES / Philippine Daily Inquirer)
MANILA, Philippines — The daily average number of new COVID-19 cases climbed to 278 during Holy Week, up by 13 percent compared to the previous week’s 246 cases a day.
According to the Department of Health’s (DOH) COVID-19 weekly bulletin released on Monday, a total of 1,944 new infections were confirmed by testing laboratories last week, including 17 people who were in serious or critical condition.
As of April 9, there were 3,000 admitted COVID-19 patients, with 378 reported to be in serious or critical condition.
The confined patients accounted for 31.6 percent out of a total of 9,493 individuals still infected with the virus as of Sunday.
While confirmed cases continued to go up, the healthcare utilization rate showing the occupancy of hospital beds dedicated to COVID-19 patients remained below 20 percent or at low risk.
The DOH bulletin also said that 14.8 percent of COVID-19 intensive care unit (ICU) beds and 16.5 percent of non-ICU beds were occupied.
An additional 30 deaths were confirmed, although most of these occurred in 2021. This brought the country’s official COVID-19 death toll to 66,420 out of 4,083,678 confirmed cases since the pandemic began three years ago.
Backlog
The number of newly detected COVID-19 infections has been rising in the past weeks, with the country recording its biggest hike on March 24 with 311 cases. This was a significant increase compared to 137 cases from the day before.
The last time COVID-19 cases nationwide rose above 300 was on Jan. 22, when 399 new cases were reported.
But for infectious diseases expert Dr. Rontgene Solante, the sudden increase in cases on March 24 was “most likely a backlog” and not a cause for alarm, adding that the presence of highly immune-evasive Omicron variants in the country would lead to a slight hike in infections.
DOH officer in charge Maria Rosario Vergeire has also repeatedly stressed that the recent rise in COVID-19 cases should not make people panic, as hospitalizations and critical cases remain manageable. She also advised the public to continue observing health and safety protocols like wearing masks in crowded places.