Metro Manila mayors are considering extending the two-week lockdown as new COVID-19 cases rose to a four-month high of 12,439 on Thursday, but they were getting pushback from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), which called for an easing of restrictions after Aug. 20.
The country logged 12,439 new COVID-19 cases Thursday, the second straight day that new infections were above the 12,000 mark.
There were 165 new fatalities, bringing the COVID-19 death toll to 29,539.
The Department of Health (DOH) also reported 6,090 recoveries, bringing the total recoveries to 1,583,161.
There were 87,663 active cases, the highest recorded since April 24.
Of the active cases, 95.3 percent were mild, 1.2 percent were asymptomatic, 0.9 percent were critical, 1.5 percent were severe, and 1.08 percent were moderate.
Nationwide, 69 percent of ICU beds, 57 percent of isolation beds, 60 percent of ward beds, and 49 percent of ventilators, were in use.
In Metro Manila, 68 percent of ICU beds, 59 percent of isolation beds, 62 percent of ward beds, and 52 percent of ventilators, were in use.
“As cases continue to increase, we remind everyone to continue to follow minimum public health standards. When you experience symptoms, immediately isolate and contact your Barangay Health Emergency Response Teams,” the DOH said.
The Metro Manila Council (MMC), composed of the mayors of Metro Manila’s 16 cities and one municipality, will study the data before deciding on whether to extend the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) that expires Aug. 20.
Parañaque Mayor Edwin Olivarez, the MMC chairman, said the mayors will meet with the DOH and other experts about four days before the ECQ’s supposed last day.
“We will look at data because all Metro Manila mayors are deciding based on the health data presented,” Olivarez said in an interview during the launch of the Nayong Pilipino drive-through vaccination center in Parañaque City on Thursday.
“If we will see a reduction in cases, gradually our quarantine will be lowered but definitely it will not be a GCQ (a general community quarantine). That’s why we will look at the data,” he said in Filipino.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said it is still premature to discuss the extension of ECQ in Metro Manila given the absence of data at this point.
In an interview on Wednesday, Duque said health authorities must have to collect sufficient data within the ECQ period.
“Our basis is consistently the fresh data and the recommendation of analytics. We look at the data everyday to see how fast the COVID virus is spreading,” he said.
Duque said transmission must be measured through the two-week growth metric and average daily attack rate.
The risk to the population that is susceptible to COVID-19 will also be considered, he added.
“In the absence of these data, we cannot, at this point, say there’s a possibility for ECQ to be extended,” Duque said.
The DTI, on the other hand, wants the National Capital Region (NCR) placed under a less stringent form of quarantine when the two-week ECQ expires on August 20.
The move, according to Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez on Thursday, will better prepare the government to balance the economy and livelihoods to health risks arising from the surge in COVID-19 cases due to the threat of the more contagious Delta variant.
Independent researchers tracking the pandemic said on Thursday that the country’s reproduction number, which refers to the number of people that each COVID-19 case can infect, stood at 1.41, while Metro Manila’s reproduction number was 1.76.
The national positivity rate or the number of COVID-19 tests in the country that came back positive is at 21percent, the OCTA Research Group said.
“The situation is more likely to get worse before it gets better,” said OCTA fellow Guido David on Twitter.
Quezon City topped the list of local government units with the most number of new infections (467) for the period Aug. 5 to 11.
Manila (304 cases), Cebu City (275), Makati (195), and Davao City (175) rounded out the top five.
Cebu City, Imus, and Tuguegarao are at critical levels in both average daily attack rate and ICU occupancy, David said.
In other developments:
* The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said there is no shortage of medical-grade oxygen amid a surge in COVID-19 infection. The FDA has given licenses to about 30 more manufacturers of medical oxygen across the country, increasing the number to 81, FDA Director General Eric Domingo said. This is on top of 30 hospitals that have been allowed to manufacture oxygen for their own use, Domingo said.
* Manila has ordered an additional 500 medical oxygen tanks to ensure that the hospitals run by the local government will be ready for the worst, Manila Mayor Francisco ‘”Isko Moreno” Domagoso said. To date, the city government has a stock of 750 50-liter medical oxygen tanks. He emphasized there are lessons learned from India, Malaysia and Indonesia where shortage of oxygen tanks became a problem and caused the loss of many lives.
* Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda filed House Bill 9958, or the COVID-19 Supplies Tax Exemption Act, in response to President Duterte’s request to Congress that medical oxygen supplies be exempt from taxes. “This is an emergency, as well as a presidential request. So, we’ll take it up next week.” Salceda said. Under Salceda’s bill, the Secretary of Finance and the Secretary of Health will jointly and periodically issue during the effectivity of the act a list of critical or needed supplies for the prevention, control, and treatment of COVID-19, including health care equipment and supplies, whose manufacture, sale, or importation shall be exempt from import duties, taxes, and other fees. These include medical oxygen.