NEW coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases in the Philippines breached the two million mark yesterday, only the second country in Southeast Asia to reach the grim mark, after 14,216 more infections were reported by the Department of Health.
In its latest bulletin, the DOH said the latest numbers do not include figures from five laboratories that did not submit data to the COVID-19 Document Repository System (CDRS) last August 30.
As cases continued to soar, the Philippine Society for Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (PSMID) called on the public to continue adhering to minimum public health standards, saying it’s not the time to give in to pandemic fatigue or become complacent against the deadly virus.
“To our countrymen, now is not the time to be complacent; now is not the time to be tired of adhering to the health protocols,” said Dr. Karl Henson of PSMID. “We have to remind the people that it is important to continue following health protocols.”
Instead of being alarmed, Malacanang said the number of cases would have reached 125,000 daily if the government did not impose stricter lockdowns, like the two-week enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) last month and the modified ECQ that followed.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque and infectious disease expert Dr. Edsel Salvana said the current cases, which surged to as high as more than 22,000 last Tuesday, are “on track” and “within the projection” of the government and DOH technical advisory group.
“We are still on track. That is expected, given the 60 percent increased transmissibility of the Delta variant. But again, it is within our projection and had we not closed down earlier, by now, we would have at least 125,000 cases per day,” Roque said.
Indonesia still has the highest number of infections in Southeast Asia with 4,089,801 as of
Sept. 1, along with 133,023 deaths. Thailand is third in the list with 1,204,725 cases and 33,448 deaths, followed by Malaysia with 1,725,357 cases and 16,664 deaths. Brunei brings up the rear in the 11-nation group with just 2,641 cases and 8 deaths.
Overall, the total number of infections in the country has risen to 2,003,955, just four months after reaching the one million mark in April.
There were 86 more deaths, raising the toll to 33,533, for a case fatality rate of 1.67.
Active cases dropped to 140,949 from 145,562 last Tuesday, with 96.1 percent mild cases, 1.2 percent severe cases, 1.1 percent asymptomatic cases, 1 percent moderate cases, and 0.6 percent critical cases
The DOH also reported 18,754 more recoveries, raising the number of survivors to 1,829,473.
Roque said FASSTER, the DOH’s disease surveillance and epidemiology group, projected that COVID cases can go up to as much as 25,000 per day despite the lockdowns, especially in Metro Manila.
FASSTER earlier predicted that active cases could reach 525,000 in September if lockdowns are not implemented following the entry of the Delta variant in the country.
Salvana reiterated the importance of sustaining minimum health protocol, the strict border controls and the vaccination against the deadly disease.
“Hopefully we can continue to manage it. Like I said, we’re doing something right and that thing is vaccinating like crazy and continuing to spread out the cases. We expect this to increase and so we have to continue vaccinating and at the same time reinforce our healthcare systems,” he said. — With Jocelyn Montemayor
