Push Admin

Brace for more cases: Philippines remains 'high-risk' for COVID, warns DOH

Article (news)

ABS-CBN News

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Commuters queue to ride the EDSA bus carousel at the Monumento station in Caloocan City on Sept. 2, 2021, amid the modified enhanced community quarantine. Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News/File" src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2021/news/09/06/20210902-mecq-commuters-758-md.jpg"/><figcaption>Commuters queue to ride the EDSA bus carousel at the Monumento station in Caloocan City on Sept. 2, 2021, amid the modified enhanced community quarantine. <em>Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News/File</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>MANILA <strong>(UPDATE) </strong>—The Philippines remains at &quot;high-risk&quot; for the spread of COVID-19, the Department of Health said Monday, warning that cases may continue to rise in the next weeks due to the more contagious Delta variant.</p><p>&quot;Nationally and some regions show a slowing down in the increase in the number of cases. However, the national case classification and health systems capacity remain to be at high-risk,&quot; Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergerie said in a press briefing.</p><p>Majority or 95 percent of provinces and cities remain flagged under Alert Levels 3 and 4, she said.</p><p>Alert Level 3 means that COVID-19 case count is high and increasing in a particular area while Alert Level 4 is raised if more than 70 percent of hospital bed capacity has already been used up.</p><p>Vergeire also bared that the health systems capacity of more than half of the regions were still at high-risk.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/09/05/21/ph-confirms-over-20k-covid-19-cases-for-3rd-straight-day">Philippines confirms over 20k new COVID-19 cases for third straight day</a></li></ul><p>In the briefing, she also warned of increasing infections due to the Delta variant, which first emerged in India.</p><p>&quot;Cases may still continue to increase in the next weeks due to higher transmissibility of the Delta variant of concern,&quot; she said.</p><p>Hospitals in and around Metro Manila have mostly declared full capacity, while the government&#x27;s One Hospital Command has been receiving hundreds of calls per day. </p><p>With over 2 million coronavirus infections and more than 34,000 deaths, the Philippines has the second-worst coronavirus outbreak in Southeast Asia after Indonesia. </p><p>Philippines currently has 157,438 active cases of COVID-19. Of the figure. 154,146 are asymptomatic, mild and moderate while 3,292 are in severe and critical condition.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/09/05/21/30000-fresh-covid-cases-in-ph-possible-by-next-week">Philippines may reach 30,000 fresh COVID-19 cases by &#x27;next week&#x27;: OCTA</a></li></ul><div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Courtesy of DOH" src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2021/news/09/06/20210906-covid-cases-doh.jpg"/><figcaption><em>Courtesy of DOH</em></figcaption></figure></div><div><strong>11 REGIONS ARE HIGH-RISK</strong></div><p>According to the DOH, 11 out of 17 regions in the country are under high-risk case classification due to increase in COVID-19 infections recorded from Aug. 23 to Sept. 5.</p><p>These are the Metro Manila, Calabarzon, Cagayan Valley, Cordillera Administrative Region, Central Luzon, Northern Mindanao, Ilocos Region, Davao Region, Caraga, Western Visayas, and Soccsksargen.</p><p>Under the &quot;moderate&quot; risk classification were Central Visayas, Zamboanga Peninsula, Mimaropa, Eastern Visayas, Bicol Region, and Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.</p><p>Vergeire also disclosed that the national ICU utilization remains to be at high-risk, with 74.35 percent occupied.</p><p>&quot;We would like to flag the National Capital Region, Regions 4A, 2, CAR, 3, 10, 1, 11, Caraga, 6 and 12 with high-risk case classification,&quot; she said.</p><p>As of Sept. 5, Metro Manila still has the most number of active COVID-19 cases in the country with 44,542. It is followed by Calabarzon (35,345), Central Luzon (19,321), Central Visayas (7,220) and Ilocos Region (7,122).</p><p>The country has so far administered 34 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine since starting its inoculation drive in March.</p><p>Some 20 million have received first dose of the anti-virus jab while more than 14 million were fully vaccinated. The number of fully vaccinated individuals represents 19.91 percent of the government&#x27;s target 70 million adult Filipinos by year-end.</p><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=1766811" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div>

The Philippines remains at 'high-risk' for the spread of COVID-19, the Department of Health said Monday.