DOH: Pasay City at ‘critical’ risk classification for Covid-19

MANILA, Philippines — Pasay City is now at the “critical” risk classification for local government units (LGUs) due to its spike in Covid-19 cases, the Department of Health (DOH) said Wednesday.

In an online media forum, the presentation of Dr. Alethea de Guzman, a medical specialist at the DOH Epidemiology Bureau, showed that the LGU risk classification of Pasay City is at the critical level.

“‘Yung mga mutations, ‘yung increased transmissibility, nakikita natin sa Pasay na nakakaranas talaga sila ng mabilis na pagtaas ng kaso,” she also said.

(The mutations and increased transmissibility can be seen in Pasay that has been experiencing a rapid increase in cases.)

According to De Guzman, the two-week growth rate of Covid-19 cases in Pasay City is at 386 percent, while the average daily attack rate is at 24.7 per 100,000 population.

But despite the increase in coronavirus cases, De Guzman said the healthcare utilization in the city remains at the safe zone at 46 percent.

“Sa Pasay City po nakikita natin na 91 percent of the barangays are now affected, but what’s really good about Pasay is they have instituted a lot of actions already,” she added, citing strict lockdowns and active case finding implemented in the city.

De Guzman earlier said that four of the six cases of the South African variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes Covid-19 are from Pasay City.

The South African variant called B.1.351, which has been reported in 48 countries so far, has the N501Y mutation linked to increased transmissibility, and the E484K mutation that has a potential effect on vaccine efficacy.

However, there is no evidence yet that shows that the variant may increase the severity of Covid-19 or the risk of death.

While De Guzman said the variant may have caused the increase in cases in Pasay, the risk of being infected with the virus can still be minimized by adhering to public health protocols.

“At the end of the day, we have to practice masking, we have to practice physical distancing and avoid crowded places so that we may minimize us becoming exposed to people infected with Covid,” she said.

According to the Pasay City Public Information Office, Pasay now has a total of 8,203 Covid-19 cases since the pandemic. Of this number, 521 are active cases (including 61 new), 7,466 are recoveries, and 216 are deaths.

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