HEALTH Secretary Teodoro Herbosa yesterday said he is looking to recommend to President Marcos Jr. the lifting of Proclamation No. 922 which placed the entire country under a State of Public Health Emergency due to the threat of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
In an interview, Herbosa noted that COVID-19 no longer poses a grave threat to the country as it is now listed as among the other illnesses subjected by the Department of Health (DOH) to regular surveillance.
“With the World Health Organization (WHO), there is no longer an emergency. So, I would actually ask (for) the lifting of the public health emergency… There is no more public health emergency. So we want it lifted,” Herbosa said.
“It’s just one of the diseases that we (DOH) monitor, like influenza, cough, colds, etc.,” he added.
But Herbosa said the DOH is in favor of retaining the Alert Level System for COVID-19. “The alert level system will stay. That’s a system like the typhoon signal,” he said.
The DOH had earlier said it wants to adopt the COVID-19 Alert Level System as a risk communication tool and no longer as an identifier of what restrictions should be imposed in a particular area.
It was back in January 30, 2020 when the WHO declared COVID-19 as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).
Last May 5, the WHO lifted the global emergency status for COVID-19.
In the Philippines, Proclamation No. 922 was issued on March 8, 2020, which placed the entire country under a State of Public Health Emergency. It remains in effect “until lifted by the President.”
On the other hand, Proclamation No. 929, which was issued on March 16, 2020 that declared a State of Calamity nationwide, was extended only until December 31, 2022 via Proclamation No. 57.
Herbosa’s pronouncement was issued as the DOH reported that the average daily COVID-19 cases in the country has dropped to 492 for the period of June 19 to 25, or a total of 3,442 cases during the seven-day period.
The figure is 20 percent lower than cases reported from June 12 to 18,” which averaged at 612 infections daily.
The DOH weekly COVID-19 case bulletin showed there were 37 additional severe and critical cases during the past week, and zero deaths during the period.
Likewise, the independent OCTA Research group said the COVID-19 positivity rate in the National Capital Region (NCR) continued to drop and is now just a shade above the 5 percent threshold set by the WHO.
Positivity rate is the percentage of people who test positive for the virus out of the overall number of those who have been tested.
Based on data from the OCTA, the positivity rate in Metro Manila is down to 6 percent, as of June 24. It was at 7.3 percent last June 17.
Aside from Metro Manila, the positivity rate in 22 provinces in the country also saw declines in their numbers.
These are Bataan (24.2 percent to 21.7 percent), Batangas (10.8 percent to 5.3 percent), Bulacan (7.6 percent to 6.7 percent), Camarines Sur (23.3 percent to 18.8 percent), Cavite (10.6 percent to 8.4 percent), La Union (13.9 percent to 12.4 percent), Laguna (10.5 percent to 7.7 percent), Oriental Mindoro (17.7 percent to 8 percent), Palawan (19.5 percent to 10.1 percent), Pampanga (21.2 percent to 17.9 percent), Pangasinan (21.4 percent to 18.5 percent), Quezon (12.4 percent to 9.5 percent), Rizal (8.8 percent to 7.3 percent), Tarlac (16.6 percent to 15 percent), Zambales (12.3 percent to 9.5 percent), Aklan (53.3 percent to 14.7 percent), Cebu (4.3 percent to 3.8 percent), Iloilo (9 percent to 7.2 percent), Leyte (10.1 percent to 6.2 percent), Misamis Oriental (14.3 percent to 6.6 percent), Negros Occidental (11.4 percent to 7.6 percent), and South Cotabato (21.5 percent to 19.2 percent).
OCTA fellow Guido David, in a social media post, the positivity rates in many provinces in Visayas and Mindanao were also in a downtrend.
But David said six provinces are still seeing increases in their positivity rates over the past week.
These are Benguet (13.2 percent to 15.3 percent), Cagayan (13.8 percent to 16.7 percent), Isabela (29.2 percent to 29.9 percent), Agusan del Norte (6.3 percent to 7.1 percent), Davao del Sur (3.1 percent to 3.2 percent), and Zamboanga del Sur (8.5 percent to 15.6 percent).
