DOH warns against ‘complacency’ in the COVID-19 fight

NO ‘FAN’ OF COVID-19 A member of the staff of the handicraft store Tesoros opens a fan with a message for the times. —MARIANNE BERMUDEZ

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Health (DOH) said on Monday that the COVID-19 situation was “improving” but did not yet say that the health crisis was over as it could cause people to drop health standards. that had been imposed to stop the transmission of the new coronavirus.

The Undersecretary of Health, María Rosario Vergeire, said that based on the DOH indicators, such as the transmission rate, the doubling time of mortality and the capacity for critical care, “we can see that in some way our situation is improving ”.

“But we always say that nothing is safe at the moment. We continue to monitor our situation. We continue to apply our strategies to further reduce the number of [new] cases and transmission rate, ”he said.

Flattened curve

Previously, the OCTA research team from the University of the Philippines (UP) said that the country had already flattened the curve as the reproductive number of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19 was now below 1. Los Latest DOH data show the reproductive number is 0.877, indicating that the country is in the “right direction” regarding its response to the outbreak, Vergeire said.

“But we avoid saying [we have flattened the curve] because we don’t want complacency among the population, “he said.

For DOH, flattening the curve means the government can spread its COVID-19 cases over “a longer period of time so that our healthcare system is not overwhelmed.”

Before Metro Manila was closed again last month, critical care capacity was 81 percent. Now, the capacity of intensive care in the metropolis, where cases are still concentrated, hovers around 66 percent.

“We can say that the strategies we are doing are working. Although it is not immediate, we can see that in some way we can decongest our hospitals, ”said Vergeire.

From 0.96 days in March, it now takes 15.09 days for the number of new deaths to double. In June, new deaths doubled every 8.29 days.

For the third day in a row, DOH saw the national case burden increase by less than 3,000, as only 1,383 cases were recorded on Monday, bringing the total to 238,727.

Since the beginning of the month, new cases only exceeded 3,000 on September 1 and 4.

Incomplete shipments

However, the lower number of new cases may be due to only 88 of the 115 accredited laboratories submitting data to DOH. Of the new cases, 1,206 became ill between August 25 and September 7, while 110 became ill between August 1 and 24.

Metro Manila continued to have the highest number of new infections, 525, followed by Laguna (137), Batangas (99), Negros Occidental (77) and Cavite (69).

The DOH said 230 more patients had recovered, bringing the total of COVID-19 survivors to 184,906. The death toll, however, rose to 3,890 with the death of 15 more patients.

Recoveries and deaths left the country with 49,931 active cases, of which 88.3 percent were mild, 8.3 percent asymptomatic, 1.4 percent severe, and 2 percent critical.

Of the recently reported deaths, three died this month, one in August, five in July, two in June, two in May, one in April and one in March. Eleven of the fatalities were from Metro Manila, two from Western Visayas, one from Eastern Visayas and one from Calabarzon.

The National COVID-19 Task Force on Monday patted itself on the back, citing the findings of UP researchers.

“This is good news because it means that the measures we have taken against the pandemic have paid off,” said Carlito Galvez Jr., the head of the task force.

No vaccine yet

However, Gálvez urged the public to continue observing minimum health standards (wearing protective masks, physical distancing, frequent hand washing) to avoid a resurgence of the coronavirus.

“Even if we flatten the curve, we cannot become complacent, particularly when a vaccine against the disease has not yet been developed,” said Gálvez.

Malacañang called on the public to help maintain the achievements of the two-week light shutdown in August, which according to presidential spokesman Harry Roque helped control the transmission of the virus.

Roque, however, declined to say whether the government would now facilitate the general quarantine of the community in Metro Manila.

Instead, he urged the public to observe minimum health standards to avoid a further increase in infections.

–With reports from Jeannette I. Andrade and Julie M. Aurelio

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