Despite the continuous rise in Covid-19 cases, the Department of Health (DOH) on Tuesday asserted that the whole country remains at low-risk case classification.
At a media forum, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire also said that the number of severe and critical admissions at the national level remain at less than 1,000 since mid-March 2022 and “currently on a plateau.”
Health-care utilization remains at low risk in most areas and severe and critical cases are at less than 1.5 percent among total hospital admissions nationally despite the increase in cases.
Asked by the BusinessMirror if the country will implement again strict border control following the emergence of a new subvariant Omicron BA.5.2.1 discovered in the city of Shanghai in China, Vergeire replied that the country’s borders “cannot remain closed forever.”
“That’s one, because our lives would be affected, our health because people are getting hungry. Second, we cannot just open then close again, and third we are cognizant of that path—that direction wherein if infections are expected because of the continuous mutation of the virus and because of the transmission of the virus also,” Vergeire said.
Also, with the increase in the number of Covid cases recently, the country, she assured, is prepared for any potential surge.
“The only thing that we are looking into and we should make sure of is that we remain at low-risk level. The severe and critical cases should be at minimum level and few will be hospitalized,” she said.
Vergeire added, “This ensures us that we can continuously do that better normal…even the virus is here to stay.” -30-