MANILA – About 43 percent of recorded deaths due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) are unvaccinated emphasizing the crucial role of vaccination in preventing the disease, the Department of Health (DOH) said Tuesday.
As of March 15, the DOH has logged 66,453 Covid-19 fatalities out of the 4,116,925 total cases nationwide since January 2020.
“Pag tiningnan po ‘yung mga analysis naming, 43 percent of deaths of Covid-19 are from those unvaccinated individuals, so, dito po natin makikita kung gaano ka-importante po ang pagbabakuna laban sa Covid-19 (If we look at our analysis, 43 percent of deaths of Covid-19 are from those unvaccinated individuals, so, we can see here the importance of vaccination against Covid-19),” said DOH officer-in-charge Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire in a media forum.
She added that the daily average of Covid-19 cases showed a 28-percent increase from May 9 to 15 with 1,798 cases logged per day compared to the 1,400 infections per day reported last week (May 2 to 8).
The national positivity rate is 23.5 percent, higher than last week’s 20 percent.
More than 78.4 million Filipinos have been fully vaccinated, including 7.2 million senior citizens, 10.2 million adolescents, and 5.6 million children as of March 20, 2023.
More than 23.8 million individuals have received their first booster dose and almost 4.4 million have received their second booster shots.
In the same media forum, Vergeire confirmed the local transmission of the Omicron XBB.1.16 or Arcturus subvariant.
This, after the recent genome sequencing revealed three additional cases of the subvariant in Western Visayas.
The first case was detected last month in Iloilo province.
“We think, that based on what we’re seeing, that there is already no linkage to any of these cases that we have been identifying, that there is already a local transmission of this Arcturus just like any of the different subvariants or the Omicron variant in the country,” she said.
On the other hand, Vergeire assured that the public has nothing to fear about local transmission because they can always protect themselves by observing health protocols such as wearing face masks, getting vaccinated and receiving their booster doses. (PNA)
