No need to panic about recent COVID-19 uptick, says Vergeire

There is no need to panic about the slight increase in COVID-19 infections in the past week as long as hospital utilization in the country remains manageable, Department of Health (DOH) officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said Tuesday.

In a media forum, Vergeire said that the COVID-19 cases nationwide are 6% higher compared to the previous week, averaging 1,181 new cases per day.

In the National Capital Region, meanwhile, she said cases are 15% higher than last week, with an average of 460 cases per day.

Despite this, she said that the hospital admissions in all regions have “low risk classification.”

“Wala ho tayong kailangang ipag-panic. Hindi natin kailangan mag-panic. Alam na ho natin that expectedly, cases will be here, cases might increase, maaaring tumaas, bababa…but as long as our hospitals are okay, manageable, walang tumataas na admisyon na kailangang bantayan talaga, walang masyadong severe at critical, hindi ho natin kailangang panic,” Vergeire said.

(We have nothing to panic about. We don't need to panic. We already know that expectedly, cases will be here, cases might increase or decrease...but as long as our hospitals are okay, manageable, there is no increase in admissions that need to be monitored, there is no much severe and critical cases, then we don’t need to panic.)

Currently, she said, the DOH is only monitoring the Bangsamoro region which has a moderate-isk intensive care unit (ICU) utilization, because of its lower number of ICU beds.

With Christmas just around the corner, the Health official also advised the public to conduct holiday parties in open spaces, and ensure that attendees do not have COVID-19 symptoms.

“Ang pinaka-importante, mas kumpyansa tayo na umattend ng ating parties kung tayo ay bakunado. Let’s encourage our family members, our workmates…magpabakuna na tayo because this gives you additional protection and this gives you better protection against the virus,” Vergeire added. 

(Most importantly, we will be more confident to attend our parties if we are vaccinated. Let's encourage our family members, our workmates to get vaccinated because this gives you additional protection and this gives you better protection against the virus.)

At least 73.7 million Filipinos are now fully vaccinated against COVID-19, while 21 million have received their booster shots, based on the DOH’s national COVID-19 vaccination dashboard. — BM, GMA Integrated News