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NCR, Cordillera under moderate risk for Covid-19: DOH

By Ma. Teresa Montemayor

August 5, 2022, 5:39 pm

MANILA – The National Capital Region (NCR) and the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) are classified under moderate risk for coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), the Department of Health (DOH) said on Friday.

In a media forum, DOH officer-in-charge Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the average daily attack rates (ADAR) of NCR and CAR have exceeded the five cases per 100,000 population threshold.

Bukod sa NCR, ang CAR ay kasama na rin sa moderate risk classification na may ADAR na 6.10 cases per 100,000 population habang 8.67 naman ang NCR per 100,000 population (Besides NCR, CAR is also under moderate risk classification with an ADAR of 6.10 cases per 100,000 population while it’s 8.67 per 100,000 population for NCR), she said.

The country remains under low risk classification with an ADAR of 3.13 cases per 100,000 population.

Most regions show case increases in the recent one and two weeks.

Calabarzon is close to being under moderate risk classification as its ADAR of 4.8 cases per 100,000 population nears the threshold.

“Nationally, we have logged 25,967 cases from July 29 to August 4. Patuloy ang pagtaas ng ating mga kaso na nag-a-average na ng (The cases continue to increase which average) 3,710 cases per day in the recent week,” Vergeire said.

Mas mataas po ito ng 16 percent mula noong nakaraang linggo at tinatayang nasa (This is 16 percent higher than last week and most likely at the) same level ng cases nung second week of February of this year,” she added.

All areas are still in continuous uptrend with the rest of Luzon increasing with the fastest rate, reporting more than 1,000 cases per day in the recent two days.

The NCR Plus areas and Mindanao have shown plateauing of infections with less than 800 cases per day in the recent days.

These increases have further translated to increase in utilization rate in one region.

Sa BARMM [Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao] na mayroong 96 active cases ay kasalukuyang nasa (The BARMM with 96 active cases is currently under) moderate risk ICU utilization, reporting two severe and critical among all hospital admissions,” Vergeire said.

Sa kabilang banda, sa Region 6 [Western Visayas] at 4A [Calabarzon], malapit nang umabot sa threshold for healthcare system capacity na mayroon nang silang (On the other hand, Region 6 and Calabarzon, are close to reaching the threshold for healthcare system capacity with) more than 40 percent total bed utilization,” she added.

These caused the national positivity rate to increase to 18 percent from last week’s 15.2 percent.

The number of severe and critical admissions remains less than 1,000 in hospitals nationwide, but continued slow increase has been observed since early July.

Currently, about 833 cases which are classified as severe and critical comprise 8.95 percent of the total hospital admissions.

An increase in the mild cases among hospital admissions at 42.13 percent has been observed in the recent weeks while asymptomatic patients are at 14.9 percent only.

Vergeire noted the total Covid-19 admissions have increased by 819 or 11 percent while the dedicated Covid-19 beds have decreased by 758 or three percent.

Meantime, the intensive care unit (ICU) utilization increased by 131 or 25 percent while the dedicated ICU beds decreased 167 or by six percent in the past week.

The country’s healthcare utilization rate remains under low risk classification even though the Covid-19 bed utilization is now at 31 percent and the ICU utilization now at 26 percent. (PNA)

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