WITH new cases in the country continuously going south, all 17 regions in the Philippines are now under the “minimal risk” classification from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), according to the Department of Health.
In an online briefing, DOH-Epidemiology Bureau head Dr. Alethea de Guzman reported that “all regions are at minimal risk case classification with negative two-week growth rates and average daily attack rate of less than 1 per 100,000 population in the current week.”
She said nationwide, the country’s two-week growth rate is at negative 59 percent, while its average daily attack rate is at 0.41, for the period of December 1 to 14.
“The health systems capacity is at low risk in all areas,” De Guzman stressed.
The DOH also noted that the entire country has an average healthcare utilization rate of 19.69 percent, while the ICU bed utilization rate is at 22.73 percent.
De Guzman, however, said two cities — Lapu-Lapu City and Gen. Santos City — are being flagged for registering a positive one-week and two-week growth rates.
She said Lapu-Lapu City has a positive one-week growth rate of 10.53 percent and two-week growth rate of 2.56 percent while its average daily attack rate is at 0.63. On the other hand, Gen. Santos City has a positive one-week growth rate of 79.17 percent and two-week growth rate of 1.52 percent while its average daily attack rate is at 0.73.
De Guzman warned that with the holidays just around the corner, active COVID-19 cases may not go down as projected if the mobility of people increases while their adherence to minimum public health standards decreases.
She said that in such a scenario, active cases may rise to 8,600 by December 31 and to 9,338 by January 31.
“This is a scenario where our MPHS compliance continues to decline by 30 percent. This slight increase in active cases may continue if the mobility increases and MPHS compliance decreases,” De Guzman said.
In its latest bulletin, the DOH reported just 235 new cases, the lowest in the country in almost 19 months, along with just 10 more deaths.
The number is the lowest in the country since May 23, 2020, when 180 new cases were reported. This figure, however, does not include data from four laboratories that were not operational and eight other labs that failed to submit data.
The positivity rate in the country stood at 0.9 percent out of the 24,120 tests conducted last December 12.
Total infections rose to 2,836,868 while the death toll climbed to 50,351 for a case fatality rate of 1.77.
Active cases went down to 10,526 from 11,083 last Monday, with 4,104 mild cases, 3,502 moderate cases, 1,868 severe cases, 659 asymptomatic cases, and 393 critical cases.
The DOH also reported 780 more recoveries, raising the number of survivors to 2,775,991.
Mandaluyong Mayor Menchie Abalos has reported zero COVID-19 active cases as of last Sunday night, attributing this to the cooperation of the city health office and the public.
“We hope the number of active cases will continue to go down and hopefully we’ll have zero cases in the near future,” Abalos said. — With Christian Oineza
