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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider PH's Covid-19 cases plateauing—DOH

PH's Covid-19 cases plateauing—DOH

Published Feb 14, 2023 04:35 pm

Shoppers flock to bargain stores along Ilaya Street in Divisoria, Binondo, Manila, on Oct. 14, 2021. (Photo by Ali Vicoy)

Covid-19 cases in all areas of the country have already plateaued, the Department of Health (DOH) said on Tuesday, Feb. 14.

“All areas have started to show plateauing of cases in recent days,” the DOH said in its latest report.

The number of severe and critical cases in hospitals is also declining, the DOH said.

“Nationally, while the decline in ICU admissions has slowed down, severe/critical admissions remain on a downward trend in recent weeks,” the DOH said.

With the improvements in the country’s Covid-19 situation, DOH Officer-in-Charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said they will again open the discussions regarding the previously proposed “alert level 0” to the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID).

“So, isa po iyan sa mga pag-uusapan natin (that's one of the things we will discuss) with our officials,” she said during a media forum.

The term alert level 0 was first introduced in March 2022 amid the decreasing number of Covid-19 cases during that time. In April 2022, then President Rodrigo Duterte thumbed down the idea, saying that “further easing the restrictions is risky” amid the presence of new coronavirus variants.

Currently, alert level 1 is the least restrictive in the five-tier alert level system being imposed by the government amid the ongoing pandemic.

Despite positive developments in the Covid-19 situation, Vergeire said that she cannot say yet if the country is ready to be placed under the proposed alert level 0.

“We cannot say right now that we don’t have any risk at all and we can have that lowest alert level like alert level 0,” she said.

“Sabi ko nga pag-uusapan natin (As I’ve said, we will discuss this) with other agencies on how we can all move forward but without compromising the safety,” she added.

Vergeire said that “the risk of the virus is still here.”

“We know that the mutations are continuing and there are still newer subvariants that are being detected in other countries. We know that borders are open already in most of the countries, and we know that the virus can cross these borders,” she said.

“And we still know that transmission is still ongoing even here in our country, although we can manage to maintain our cases at that level which is manageable,” she added.

Related Tags

alert level 0 covid-19 Department of Health (DOH) Maria Rosario Vergeire PLATEAU
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