The Philippines has recorded 32 percent more COVID-19 cases from April 17 to 23 compared to the previous week, the Department of Health said Monday, even as Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno downplayed concerns over the recent rise of coronavirus cases, saying this was “nothing to be scared of.”
The country recorded 3,148 COVID-19 cases in the past week or an average of 450 daily infections, said the DOH, which put the national positivity rate at 8.8 percent.
Of these, 14 cases were considered severe or critical, according to the DOH’s latest bulletin.
As of Sunday, 345 cases or 8.7 percent of total COVID-19 admissions were in severe and critical condition, the agency said. At least 275 or 13.7 percent of intensive care unit beds for COVID patients were occupied. The non-ICU bed utilization rate was at 17.4 percent.
During the past week, the DOH also verified five more COVID-related fatalities, citing late encoding of death information. None of the deaths occurred from April 10 to 23, the department said.
Based on the DOH’s COVID-19 Tracker, the Philippines has 4,336 active COVID-19 cases as of April 24.
Three years since the start of the pandemic, the country has recorded over 4,089,394 coronavirus infections. The death toll stood at 66,444.
To date, more than 79.1 million Filipinos are fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
Of the figure, over 24.1 million have received their first booster dose while almost 4.4 million have gotten the second booster shot.
Meanwhile, at the Development Budget Coordination Committee press briefing, Diokno said he believes there won’t be new lockdowns and that COVID-19’s impact on the economy will not be significant because of the availability of vaccines and the readiness of medical facilities.
“I don’t think that’s kind of scary. I don’t even think why you are wearing your mask here. Really, there’s nothing to be scared of,” Diokno told reporters.
Several areas in the country have reported an increase in COVID cases, but the DOH said no area has been escalated from Alert Level 1 to 2 this year.
The DOH said 26 provinces will remain under Alert Level 2, the second least restrictive level.