DOH official admits low count as sharp spikes sweep across regions
The number of COVID-19 infections in the country is “understated” even as spikes in new cases are being registered in all regions, the director of the Department of Health (DOH) Epidemiology Bureau said Tuesday.
At a congressional briefing, Dr. Alethea de Guzman said anyone who has not been tested using an RT-PCR or antigen test is not included in the DOH data, even though they might be infected.
De Guzman said those who are unknowingly infected are also not included in the DOH list of confirmed cases because they go undetected.
Speaking to the House committee on health, De Guzman said all regions of the country were now experiencing sharp increases in infections.
“We have now observed an increase in cases across all regions and all provinces, highly-urbanized cities and independent component cities but there are still areas whose counts are lower than what we are seeing now in the NCR Plus. But we’re already seeing continuous and swift increases,” De Guzman said.
She said the increase in cases was driven by the highly transmissible Omicron variant.
De Guzman said 15 areas in Metro Manila already have Omicron cases, but did not specify which areas these are.
“Our latest whole genome sequencing showed that the Omicron variant is now the predominant variant in the National Capital Region,” the official said.
“It’s also detected in 13 of 17 regions and in the National Capital Region, 15 of its 17 areas already have local Omicron cases,” she said.
However, the increased mobility and reduced adherence to minimum public health standards as well as delays in detection and isolation also contributed to the spike in infections, she said.
De Guzman said the increase alone in the National Capital Region and nearby provinces, or the NCR Plus, is larger than the peak that was observed in September 2021 brought about by the Delta coronavirus variant.
Still, hospitalization as well as severe and critical cases were fewer than what were observed in August to September last year.
De Guzman said the recorded increase of cases for January 2022 was the “fastest and largest case increase since the start of the pandemic.”
She also said that while the increase has slowed down, they do not yet see any decline in cases.
Earlier, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said the Philippines remains at critical risk for COVID-19 even as the growth rate of infections has slowed down.
Duque said the Omicron variant already accounts for 90 percent of the latest genome sequencing.
Meanwhile, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said there has been an increase in hospital admissions in the NCR as well.
Some 32 out of 159 NCR hospitals do not meet the required COVID-19 capacity allocation, 42 hospitals have high-risk bed utilization, and 29 hospitals have high-risk ICU utilization, Vergeire said.
She said occupied beds decreased by 219 while occupied ICU beds increased by 67 compared to the previous week.
“We have the DOH One Hospital Command Center and they will refer, help navigate patients who visited hospitals that are already full,” the spokesperson said.
Vergeire said 75 percent of the cases reported in January were mild to moderate, 13 percent were asymptomatic, and 12 percent were severe or critical.
“Mild cases are reminded to remain at home. Home isolation or quarantine will significantly reduce the burden on health care workers and facilities,” she said.
The DOH has also called on local government units to activate telemedicine services, prepare isolation facilities, and monitor probable and confirmed cases.
The Philippines logged 28,471 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total number of cases to 3,270,758.
The positivity rate was at 43.4 percent, based on samples of 51,738 people tested on Jan. 16.
There were 34 new fatalities reported, bringing the COVID-19 death toll to 52,962.
The DOH also reported 34,892 new recoveries, bringing the total recoveries to 2,933,338.
There were 284,458 active cases, of which 8,930 were asymptomatic; 270,784 were mild; 2,957 were moderate; 1,484 were severe; and 303 were critical.
Nationwide, 49 percent of ICU beds, 49 percent of isolation beds, 53 of ward beds, and 22 percent of ventilators, were in use.
In Metro Manila, 53 percent of ICU beds, 48 percent of isolation beds, 63 of ward beds, and 29 percent of ventilators, were in use.
Vergeire said it was too early to say that the number of new COVID-19 infections in the NCR is on a decline, contrary to the claim of the independent OCTA Research Group.
She said the difference in daily data may be subject to some variables, like submissions of laboratories.
“If we look at the data, we see that there is a slight decrease in the transmission. Our case doubling time was just two days when the Omicron situation started,” she said. The current case doubling time in the NCR is now four days.
On the other hand, Vergeire said the fresh cases reported daily are still high, which means continuous caution and interventions are still needed to prevent the rise in cases.
“So, it is still very early to say and conclude that cases are declining already,” she added.
The NCR logged 13,543 cases on Monday — lower than Sunday’s 15,959 and Saturday’s 18,422.
OCTA said Monday that while the growth rate in the NCR has dropped, Metro Manila was still at a “very high risk” of COVID-19.