Coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) cases in the Philippines is now on a declining trend by as high as 25 percent compared to previous weeks, the Department of Health (DOH) announced.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire highlighted during a virtual meeting that the nationwide average cases of Covid-19 in the past two weeks is now down to 1,887 new cases per day, slightly lower than four weeks ago when Health Department reported an average of 2,517 new cases per day.
Meanwhile, the country’s pandemic epicenter, Metro Manila, also showcased an impressive decline of 38 percent from the previous 842 new cases per day to only 522 over the past two weeks.
However, Vergeire pointed out that the decline of new cases is not enough to transition some areas into a more relaxed modified general community quarantine (MGCQ).
“We all know that we don’t just measure the number of cases when we say we are deciding on the quarantine level of an area. Aside from the number, we also look at the health system capacity of the area. This must not be overwhelmed and still able to accommodate even the non-COVID cases. Average growth rate downward, negative. That’s the time that we can be able to shift to lower quarantine level,” she explained.
The health undersecretary shared that the DOH is expecting to transition all local government units in the country into MGCQ by the first quarter of 2021. RJ Espartinez