Critical stage of Arcturus wave in PH is 'over' —Solante

The critical stage of the COVID-19 Omicron subvariant XBB.1.16 or “Arcturus” wave is over for the country, according to infectious diseases expert Dr. Rontgene Solante on Tuesday.

“‘Yung nakikita natin, trending downward ang positivity rate, at nakita rin naman natin sa mga ospital na bumaba na rin ‘yung hospitalization rate [we’ve seen that the positivity rate is trending downward, as well as the hospitalization rate]. So, I think we’re past that critical stage of the Arcturus,” he said in a public briefing.

OCTA Research said on Monday that the COVID-19 positivity rate has been decreasing in most of Luzon provinces and the National Capital Region (NCR).

Solante, however, stressed that people should still be vigilant as there are seven other circulating variants under monitoring by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Based on WHO’s website, the following COVID-19 variants are being monitored as of May 17: BA.2.75, CH.1.1, BQ.1, XBB, XBB.1.9.1, XBB.1.9.2, and XBB.2.3.

More than 390,000 doses of bivalent vaccines donated by Lithuania arrived in the Philippines on Saturday night. These jabs give protection against the original COVID-19 strain, SARS-CoV-2, and Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5, according to the Department of Health.

Solante expressed hope that more bivalent vaccines will be available in the country to protect the vulnerable population, particularly healthcare workers, senior citizens, and those with comorbidities.

"Nakikita natin ngayon na ang nao-ospital ay ‘yung elderly population and hindi tayo dapat maging kampante. Siguro ang importante dito, we will prioritize this limited number of vaccinations pero sana madagdagdan pa," he said.

(We’ve seen now that those in the elderly population are the ones who are being hospitalized, and we should not be complacent. Maybe the important thing here is that we will prioritize this limited number of vaccinations, but hopefully the supply will increase.) —Giselle Ombay/ VAL, GMA Integrated News