COVID-19 cases decreasing 'slowly' —DOH

New COVID-19 infections in the Philippines have been decreasing “slowly” in recent weeks, the Department of Health (DOH) said Monday following two months of steep rise in cases.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the national two-week case growth rate fell to -15% from 11% three to four weeks ago.

“Ibig sabihin po nito, kahit dumadami ang kaso, ngayon ay nakikita na rin natin ang patuloy na pagbaba, although slowly, nitong nakaraang dalawang linggo,” she said in an online briefing.

[This means that even though cases are rising, we are now seeing a continued decrease, although slowly, these past two weeks.]

The average daily attack rate (ADAR) in Metro Manila also dropped to 25 cases per 100,000 population from April 18 to May 1, lower than the ADAR of 34 infections per 100,000 people from April 4 to 17.

“While this is an improvement, this is still beyond the 7 per 100,000 threshold that we have set for [the] high-risk classification and this ADAR can still overwhelm the health system kung hindi po natin if we do not improve our response,” Vergeire said.

The health official added that although the COVID-19 case fatality rate remains under 2%, there was an “expected” increase in deaths in April due to the surge in cases.

Vergeire also said there is a “downward trend” in hospital admissions and a slight decongestion of hospitals but stressed that “these are not significant yet.”

Data from the DOH show that 63.91% of intensive care unit (ICU) beds, 44.96% of isolation beds, and 51.36% of ward beds for COVID-19 patients across the country were occupied as of May 1.

In Metro Manila, ICU utilization eased to 70.36%

The spike in COVID-19 cases in March and April overwhelmed the capital region’s hospital system, forcing many patients to scramble for available hospital beds. 

Loosened restrictions?

Meanwhile, Vergeire said the healthcare utilization rate in NCR Plus (Metro Manila, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal) must fall below 50% for the government to loosen quarantine restrictions.

NCR Plus will be under modified enhanced community quarantine, the second most stringent quarantine classification, until May 14. 

“Sa pagbaba ng kaso, sana may kasabay din na pag-decongest o pagbaba ng mga kaso na naa-admit natin sa ospital (As cases decrease, we hope there will also be a decongestion or decrease in hospital admissions),” Vergeire said.

The ADAR must also be 7 or fewer per 100,000 population, the two-week case growth rate should be negative compared to the preceding three to four weeks, and local governments must have an improved capacity for COVID-19 cases, she added.

The Philippines has logged 1,054,983 infections with 966,080 recoveries and 17,431 deaths as of Sunday afternoon. —KBK, GMA News