COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Not yet time to lift state of calamity in Philippines — Vergeire

Even as it notes a slight increase in COVID-19 cases, the Department of Health (DOH) said Friday it believes it is not yet time to lift the state of calamity in the country.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire issued the remark on Super Radyo dzBB when asked if it is time to remove the emergency tag on COVID-19.

“Nakikita ho natin may kaonting pagtaas ng kaso sa ibang lugar. Pangalawa, may mga pumasok po na subvariants dito sa ating bansa which is deemed to be more transmissible at saka may immune escape na mechanism sila,” she said.

(We saw an increase in cases in other areas as well. Second, there are subvariants that have entered the country that are deemed to be more transmissible, and they also have an immune escape mechanism.)

The Philippines recently detected more cases of the more transmissible Omicron subvariant BA.2.12.1, bringing the total number of cases in the country to 22.

In May, the country also detected the Omicron subvariant BA.4. The case has already completed his isolation period and has since recovered.

Vergeire said the current state of calamity is set to expire in September.

“So it will be up to the president if it’s going to be lifted or not. Based on recommendations from DOH and the expert,” she said.

Meanwhile, she said the public health emergency was declared by the World Health Organization.

According to Vergeire, experts are also projecting an increase in cases by the end of July or early August due to waning immunity.

At a media briefing, Vergeire explained that a public health emergency is defined by the WHO as an extraordinary event that is determined to constitute a public health risk to other states through the international spread of disease and may potentially require a coordinated international response.

She said that the event may be serious, sudden, unusual, or unexpected. It also carries implications for public health beyond the affected state’s borders.

“So what does it mean when it is in that emergency phase? So we have set up this alert level. This is the system to assess our areas and, of course, nationally if we are still at that level where emergency actions are still required,” she said.

Alert levels

Meanwhile, Vergeire thumbed down suggestions to remove the alert level status in the country, saying it indicates the risk status of an area.

Vergeire said more than 40 areas in the country have yet to meet the COVID-19 vaccination target.

“Let us remember that we can only relax and say that we are in that phase na endemic na po at acceptable na kapag mataas din ang immunity ng bansa. Hindi lang po numero or number ng cases ang tinitignan natin,” she said.

(Let us remember that we can only relax and say that we are in that phase where we are endemic and it is acceptable if the immunity is high in the country. We are not only looking at the number of cases.) — RSJ/VBL, GMA News