Though COVID 19 cases continue to increase in several regions of the country, along with positivity rates, utilization of the healthcare system has been low because of vaccines that have prevented severe infections.
Majority, or 91 percent of the sustained hike in COVID-19 cases was reported in the provinces, highly urbanized cities and independent component cities in recent weeks, the Department of Health reported.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the National Capital Region (NCR), and five other regions now have positivity rates greater than 5 percent.
Despite this, the DOH said healthcare utilization rates remain low and case increases have not translated into increases in severe and critical Covid-19 admissions in all regions.
Sharp rise
“Most areas show sharp increase in cases, with NCR showing the steepest increase now exceeding 500 cases per day; while Mindanao showed a slight uptick mid-June2022 but currently shows signs of plateauing with more than 50 cases per day,” Vergeire’s report read.
It added that national and all regions continue to show increases in cases but remain at low-risk case classification with average daily attack rates at low risk.
Healthcare utilization rates, however, are still low in all regions; severe and critical admissions remain to be less than 1 percent of total hospital admissions.
There were a total 638,690 recoveries after 4,710 patients recovered from the disease.
Deaths
The DOH recorded 85 deaths, leading to a total of 60,602 that have succumbed to Covid in the country.
The DOH said the national weekly positivity rate increased to 6.8 percent while the weekly positivity rate in NCR is 9.3 percent.
NCR, CAR, Regions 3, 4A, 4B, and 6 with positivity rates is greater than or equal to 5 percent.
The national case trend, the DOH added, shows a continuous increase, now averaging more than 1,000 cases/day in the recent week.
NCR cases showed continued increase in therecent weeks, currently higher by 57 percent from the previous week.
“Vaccination and boosters remain to be our safeguards to protect our population, especially those vulnerable, from severe disease as well as masking, distancing, and improving ventilation to minimize transmission,” the report added.
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