New classification expected next month
PRESIDENT Marcos Jr. on Monday retained the current coronavirus disease (COVID-19) alert level system but directed the Department of Health (DOH) to revise its restrictions classification and make it more compatible with the current milder strains of the virus.
The DOH said it will submit its proposed revisions by the second week of August.
The President, joined by Presidential Management Staff Secretary Maria Zenaida Angping, on Monday met with DOH officials led by officer-in-charge Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire, Assistant Secretary Charade Mercado-Grande of the DOH — Health Regulation Team, and Director Alethea de Guzman of the DOH — Bureau of Epidemiology to discuss the country’s COVID-19 status, the vaccination and booster situation and the alert level system.
The DOH last night announced the new alert levels for the provinces and regions for July 16 to 31.
The National Capital Region (NCR) shall remain under Alert Level 1, along with the following areas in Luzon: Cordillera Administrative Region: Abra, Apayao, Kalinga, Mountain Province, and Baguio City; Region I: Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, La Union, Pangasinan, and Dagupan City; Region II: Batanes, Cagayan, Isabela, Nueva Vizcaya, Quirino, and City of Santiago; Region III: Aurora, Bataan, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Tarlac, Zambales, Angeles City, and Olongapo City; Region IV-A: Batangas, Cavite, Laguna, Rizal, and Lucena City; Region IV-B: Marinduque, Oriental Mindoro, Romblon, and Puerto Princesa City; and Region V: Albay, Catanduanes, Naga City, and Sorsogon.
For the Visayas, the following are under Alert Level 1: Region VI: Aklan, Capiz, Guimaras, Iloilo Province, Bacolod City, and Iloilo City; Region VII: Siquijor, Cebu City, Lapu-Lapu City, and Mandaue City; and Region VIII: Biliran, Eastern Samar, Southern Leyte, Ormoc City, and Tacloban City.
The following provinces in Mindanao are also under Alert Level 1: Region IX: Zamboanga City; Region X: Camiguin, Bukidnon, Misamis Occidental, Misamis Oriental, Cagayan de Oro City, and Iligan City; Region XI: Davao City and Davao Oriental; Region XII: South Cotabato and General Santos City; CARAGA: Agusan del Norte, Agusan del Sur, Surigao del Sur and Butuan City; and BARMM: Cotabato City.
Meanwhile, the following provinces, highly urbanized cities (HUCs), and independent component cities (ICCs) shall be under Alert Level 2: Cordillera Administrative Region: Benguet, Ifugao; Region IV-A: Quezon Province; Region IV-B: Occidental Mindoro and Palawan; Region V: Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, and Masbate; Region VI: Antique and Negros Occidental; Region VII: Bohol, Cebu, and Negros Oriental; Region VIII: Leyte, Northern Samar and Western Samar; Region IX: City of Isabela, Zamboanga del Sur, Zamboanga del Norte and Zamboanga Sibugay; Region X: Lanao del Norte; Region XI: Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur, Davao de Oro and Davao Occidental; Region XII: North Cotabato, Sarangani, and Sultan Kudarat; CARAGA: Dinagat Islands and Surigao del Norte; and Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao: Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.
ADJUST ALERT SYSTEM
In the meeting, Marcos said that the alert level system could be adjusted or improved if more people get their booster shots.
“To avoid confusion, we will retain the alert level system for now. We are, however, thinking, we are studying very closely, and we’ll come to a decision very soon, as to decoupling the restrictions from the alert levels,” he said.
Vergeire told the President the DOH will come up with a new classification system by mid-August, which she said is the best time to amend restrictions, address concerns and allay fears of the medical community and “give them time to make COVID-19 cases more manageable” amid the uptick in cases caused by the highly contagious Omicron BA.5 variant.
Vergeire said that based on DOH projections, relaxing the current health standards, including the easing to non-compliance to minimum public health standards (MPHS), would cause more COVID-19 infections.
Vergeire said the new coronavirus variants have increased the “virus’ immune-escaping mechanism,” which makes boosters more important.
She warned that experts have projected that if eligible individuals do not take their extra shots, the country will witness increased hospitalizations by September.
“So that’s why we really wanted to capture all of this eligible population bago dumating ‘yung time na projection na sinasabing September (So that’s why we really wanted to capture all of this eligible population the projected time in September),” she said.
IATF
Vergeire said they are also reconstituting the member agencies of the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases to include only relevant agencies.
She added they are also streamlining IATF processes and integrating the functions of the National Task Force against COVID-19 (NTF) with the aim of allowing “the IATF health expert groups to continue their work as they serve as the voice of science in the country.”
The reconstituted IATF will follow the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) platform, Vergeire said but did not give additional details.
OCTA
The independent OCTA Research yesterday sought to allay public fears over the 2,000 COVID-19 cases reported daily in the country, saying that the number pales compared to previous surges.
In a televised public briefing, OCTA fellow Guido David said: “Yes, the 2,000 cases per day looks high. But not when you compare it to the January surge, where we reached 40,000 cases in a day, and last year’s surge, where we have more than 20,000 cases in a day.”
“We might see a few 2,000 cases per day over the next few days… (But) this is not a cause for alarm. This is not alarming,” he added.
OCTA issued the statement a day after the DOH reported that the average COVID-19 cases reported daily over the past seven days has breached the 2,000-mark.
Based on the weekly COVID-19 Case Bulletin released Monday, there was an average of 2,091 cases daily for the period of July 11 to 17.
But while the average daily cases in the country does not alarm them, David said OCTA is surprised on the length of the latest COVID-19 wave in the country.
This, he said, as they initially projected that it will only last for two months, just like the experience of South Africa with the Omicron subvariant BA.5.
“We are quite surprised because our initial projections, based on the experience of South Africa, the wave lasted for only two months,” David noted.
“We are now nearing two months into this wave in the National Capital Region (yet it is not yet over),” he said.
The OCTA fellow said the protracted wave may be attributed to the presence of several Omicron subvariants in the country.
“Actually, we have several subvariants that came into the country, aside from BA.5. We also have BA.4 and BA.2.12.1. These probably contributed to the surge,” said David.
Another possible factor, he said, is the continued complacency against COVID-19 of many Filipinos.
“We hope everyone will continue to follow the health protocols so that we can stop the surge and begin the downward trend,” said David.
On Monday, David said cases in Metro Manila may already peak very soon, and that a decrease may happen within the week or next week.
LGUs
Defense officer-in-charge Jose Faustino Jr asked local government units to be more proactive in the fight against COVID-19 amid an uptrend in infections in the provinces.
Faustino made the appeal in his capacity as chairman of the National Task Force Against COVID-19 on Monday when he presided the first organizational briefing of the task force in Camp Aguinaldo.
“We cannot tell the virus to stop, so we should also not stop in anticipating what we can do to mitigate an increase in COVID-19 infections,” said Faustino.
Faustino met with representatives of the member-agencies to discuss the continuing increase of COVID-19 cases in the country, said DND spokesman Arsenio Andolong.
During the meeting, Andolong said the DOH made a presentation that showed an uptrend in COVID-19 cases and in healthcare utilization rate over the past weeks.
“It’s not yet critical but there is an uptrend, it’s rising,” said Andolong, adding this prompted Faustino to order intensified efforts to address the problem.
“He encouraged the LGUs to be more proactive, especially in the enforcement of health protocols. He encouraged our LGUs to implement the health and safety protocols in order to mitigate the possible spike that may happen in the next few days,” he said. — With Gerard Naval and Victor Reyes
