DOH monitoring several areas with COVID-19 case uptick

Several areas in the country are now being monitored by the Department of Health after seeing an uptick in COVID-19 infections, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said on Monday.

In a Balitanghali interview, Vergeire said that certain areas such as Basilan and Batanes have increased growth rates. However, she stressed that these provinces only had a slight increase in COVID-19 cases and have not sustained it.

“Kapag tinignan natin sa kabuuan, ‘yung trend, hindi naman nabago ang kanilang average daily attack rate (ADAR). Hindi na-sustena rin ang pagtaas ng mga kaso,” she said.

(If we look at the whole trend, their average daily attack rate has not changed. The increase in cases has also not been sustained.)

Further, Vergeire noted that all regions are at minimal risk classification for COVID-19, with the ADAR in the whole country and all regions less than 1.

ADAR pertains to the incidence showing the average number of new cases in a period per 100,000 people.

Vergeire also pointed out that while the healthcare utilization nationwide is less than 20%, some intensive care units (ICUs) only have an increased utilization rate due to the low number of beds available.

“May mga binabantayan tayong ibang mga areas ngayon na medyo tumataas ang pagka-admit dito sa mga ating ICUs. But upon analysis, nakita po natin ‘yung mga areas kakaunti lang ang kama sa kanilang ICUs kaya madaling napupuno,” she added.

(We are monitoring other areas where ICU admissions have increased. But upon analysis, we saw that these areas only have few beds in their ICUs so they fill up easily.)

The DOH reported on Monday that of the 2,951 intensive care unit (ICU) beds, 542 or 18.4% were occupied. Meanwhile 4,045 or 16.4% of the 24,689 non-ICU COVID-19 beds were in use. — BM, GMA News