Just four regions in the Philippines—Western Visayas, Davao Region, Socksargen, and the Cordillera Administrative Region—remain at moderate risk for COVID-19, while the rest of the country is back at ‘low risk,’ according to the Department of Health.
On Tuesday, as well, the Philippines logged its lowest number of fresh cases this year, at 2,010.
Health Undersecretary Rosario Vergeire said average daily cases are now 56 percent lower than the previous week’s, and the average daily attack rate in the last two weeks was at 5.26 cases per every 100,000 individuals.
These positive developments come just one month after the peak of the COVID-19 surge in January, where the number of new cases reached 39,004.
Certainly this is reason for optimism after we started the year with the alarming surge. More businesses can open at greater capacity, public transportation can be more accessible, and face-to-face classes can once more begin, albeit gradually.
This development also coincides with the campaign period, where rallies and other gatherings are prevalent. We hope no further surges happen, especially during the time when Filipinos are supposed to troop to the polls to cast their vote.
We have long conceded that it is not yet possible to eliminate COVID-19. What we can do is to live with it and manage our response to it so that it sickens as few people as possible, and so that it does not cripple our economy, leading to unemployment, poverty and hunger.
Let us continue to practice basic safety measures as we move into this new phase of our fight against the pandemic. We hope we have learned our lessons in the past two years.