COVID infections below 10,000 for 7th straight day
PHILIPPINES posted 6,835 coronavirus infections on Monday, the seventh straight day the tally remained below the 10,000 mark.
This brought the total to 3.6 million, the Department of Health (DoH) said in a bulletin. The death toll hit 54,538 after 12 more patients died, while recoveries rose by 16,330 to 3.45 million.
The agency said 19.1% of 36,773 samples tested positive for the coronavirus on Feb. 5, way above the 5% threshold set by the World Health Organization (WHO).
There were 116,720 active cases, 7,806 of which did not show symptoms, 103,900 were mild, 3,184 were moderate, 1,495 were severe and 335 were critical.
DoH said 98% of the latest cases occurred on Jan. 25 to Feb. 7. The top regions with new cases in the past two weeks were Metro Manila with 949, Western Visayas with 822 and Central Visayas with 624 infections. All of the deaths occurred in January.
The Health department said 16 duplicates had been removed from the tally, four of which were reclassified as recoveries, while 12 recoveries were relisted as deaths. Two laboratories failed to submit data on Feb. 5.
It added that 41% of intensive care unit beds in the country had been used, while the rate for Metro Manila was 33%.
Daily coronavirus infections in the Philippines might drop to 4,000 by mid-February and to as low as 1,000 by the end of the month, the OCTA Research Group from the University of the Philippines said at the weekend.
Daily infections in Manila, the capital and nearby cities might return to the pre-Omicron surge level by the end of February if the decline continues, OCTA fellow Fredegusto P. David tweeted.
The national average daily cases fell further to 8,442 on Feb. 1 to 5, from 17,025 a week earlier and from 28,666 two weeks earlier.
The Philippines and other countries have started easing lockdowns amid hopes that the highly mutated Omicron variant, which was first detected in South Africa, might have peaked.
The country is set to allow the entry of fully vaccinated nationals of non-visa countries starting Feb. 10, almost two months after it suspended a plan to welcome back foreign tourists due to the threat of the Omicron variant.
Mr. David said a potential influx of foreign travelers might lead to another spike. “Spikes in cases could happen but this is dependent mostly on a new variant,” he said in a Facebook Messenger chat.
The World Health Organization has said some countries with high immunity rates, strong healthcare systems and decreasing coronavirus infections and deaths could now consider easing restrictions, according to a report by the Los Angeles Times.
The Philippines is scrambling to vaccinate more people as it reopens the economy. It had fully vaccinated 59.81 million people as of Feb. 4, while almost 60.66 million have received their first dose, data from the Health department showed. More than eight million booster shots have been given out.
