MANILA, Philippines — An official from the Department of Health (DOH) said Saturday that she doesn't expect the capital to be placed under a higher alert level, citing manageable admissions in many hospitals.
This comes despite independent pandemic monitor OCTA Research's report that the positivity rate in the National Capital Region reached 5.6% on June 22.
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Having a positivity rate of below 5% indicates that a country can manage its COVID-19 caseload, the World Health Organization said in its recommendation.
But Health Department Undersecretary and spokesperson Maria Rosario Vergeire said Saturday that they still do not expect the capital to raise its current alert level status.
"Base sa ating datos, hindi ho natin nakikita that we will be escalating ang NCR to a higher alert level kasi katulad nga ng sabi ko, mas binibigyan natin ng weight itong hospital admissions natin because we know that the COVID-19 will really cause infections- huwag lang nga severe and critical," she said in an interview on Laging Handa.
("Based on our data, we don't see that we will be escalating the NCR to a higher alert level because we give more weight to hospital admissions. We know that COVID-19 will really cause infections, we just hope that they won't be severe and critical.")
According to her, many areas in the capital have generally logged a hospital admissions rate of less than 50%, indicating the healthcare facilities are still not overwhelmed by the cases.
"Patuloy natin binabantayan but for now, as I've said, escalation to alert level 2- hindi pa ho natin nakikita, although we cannot say kung by next week, biglang magtaasan [ng admissions]. That's the time that we are going to decide and it's going to be IATF (Interagency Task Force against COVID-19) to decide," Vergeire said.
("We are currently monitoring the situation, but as I've said, we do not see escalation to Alert Level 2. Although we cannot say that this will be the case next week because there might be a rise in hospital admissions. That's the time we are going to decide and it's going to be IATF to decide.")
Health Secretary Francisco Duque earlier said this week that a surge in the hospital occupancy rate to up to 70% will likely trigger the escalation to a higher pandemic alert level.
Other metrics used in evaluating the COVID-19 risks in an area include the growth rate; and the average daily attack rate (ADAR), or percentage of those at risk of a disease in a population.
Five areas under 'moderate risk'
While the DOH is monitoring all areas in the NCR, it is paying close attention to five areas which Vergeire said are now under moderate risk.
"These five areas would be Pasig, San Juan, Quezon City, Marikina and Pateros pero uulitin ko, kaya sila napunta sa moderate risk case classification dahil nag-umpisa tayo sa mga mababang kaso nung mga past weeks tapos biglang nagkaroon sila ng kaso. That's why their growth rate began to increase," she explained on Saturday.
("These five areas would be Pasig, San Juan, Quezon City, Marikina and Pateros but I will repeat that they were placed under moderate risk classification because they started with a low number of cases in the past weeks and then there suddenly was a surge. That's why their growth rate began to increase.")
An area is said to be under moderate risk if it has a positive two-week growth rate and an ADAR of at least six average cases per day per 100,000 people, the DOH has said.
The Philippines logged an additional 770 COVID-19 infections on Friday, raising the total caseload to 3.70 million recorded since the start of the pandemic, health records showed.