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Friday, March 29, 2024

Active COVID cases hit 13k

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BBM asks LGUs to push booster, eyes masks as optional ‘when safe’

COVID-19 cases in the country keep on rising, as the number of active cases has hit 13,021 as the Department of Health (DOH) reported 1,825 new cases on Saturday.

The active cases logged on July 9 are the highest since April 24, based on the DOH’s latest bulletin.

COVID-19 tallies from July 3 to 8 also posted a 9.5-percent positivity rate, above the 5 percent threshold recommended by the World Health Organization.

The positivity rate continues to rise in the National Capital Region, where 835 fresh cases were reported, as several provinces were at over 10% positivity, according to the OCTA Research Group.

This developed as President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.—currently in isolation after testing positive for COVID-19 a second time—on Friday night asked local government units (LGUs) to support the booster campaign rollout for face-to-face classes to safely resume and fully reopen the economy.

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“I hope that you will be part of the effort that we have to bring us back to normal. This is really part of the effort to bring us back to normal,” Marcos said in a virtual speech before newly elected governors and city mayors.

In the same speech, aired on Saturday, Marcos said an optional face mask policy may be possible when it is “already safe to do so,” emphasizing the importance of ramping up the country’s booster shot uptake.

He also said wide lockdowns are not part of his administration’s plans.

The DOH earlier reported that booster uptake across all regions has not breached the 50 percent mark.

In a tweet, OCTA Research fellow Dr. Guido David said that the NCR had a positivity rate of 10.4% on Thursday, July 7, from the previous 8.3% last Saturday, July 2.

Several provinces had positivity rates higher than 10%—Antique (18.9%), Batangas (10.5%), Capiz (17.8%), Cavite (16.2%), Iloilo (10.9%), Laguna (16.2%), Pampanga (16.1%), and Rizal (15.7%).

The positivity rate refers to the percentage of people found to be positive for COVID-19 among the total number of individuals tested.

Metro Manila recorded the highest number of COVID-19 cases in the last 14 days with 6,869. It was followed by Region IV-A with 2,915; Region VI with 1,253; Region III with 1,134; and Region VII with 662.

This brought the nationwide total caseload to 3,714,770.

In his message, Marcos stressed the importance of in-person learning for students, as well as opening the economy with people not worrying about the reimposition of lockdowns.

He asked local chief executives to help agencies in replicating the massive COVID-19 vaccine rollout conducted last year and praised them for the “very, very good job.”

“So let us return to the idea of what we did last year, to have another vaccine rollout. Let’s do this so that we can be sure. And when our booster rollout succeeds, we will see that we can bring down the alert levels, and make masks optional,” Marcos said.

A high rate of COVID-19 vaccination, he said, would help reopen the economy and address the country’s problem with the pandemic.

Marcos said Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte plans a phased return to the face-to-face classes, starting initially from a two-day, or three-day weekly class schedule.

If the massive vaccination drive becomes successful, the government could allow children to return to full face-to-face classes and open the rest of the economy, which Marcos said could send a signal to the rest of the world that the Philippines is opening for business.

Among the highlights of Friday’s event was the briefing presentation by the Department of the Interior and Local Government on LGU’s efforts on booster administration, the DepEd’s presentation on the resumption of face-to-face classes, and the DOH’s plan on vaccination mobilization.

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