SIX regions are now closely being monitored by the Department of Health (DOH) after their intensive care unit (ICU) utilization rate attained high-critical risk status.
Dr. Alethea De Guzman, Epidemiology Bureau Director of the DOH, said that while their health care utilization rate is at high-risk, the ICU utilization of Regions 1 (86 percent), 2 (71 percent), 3 (71 percent), 4A (71 percent), 7 (79 percent), and CAR ( 71 percent) is at high-critical risk.
De Guzman also said that nine out of 11 regions in Visayas and Mindanao have seen higher positive two-week growth rate (TWGR) and increasing average daily attack rate (ADAR).
The ADAR of Region 9 went up from 4.73 (previous 3-4 weeks, April 25-May 8) to 6.88 (recent 1-2 weeks, May 9-May 22); Caraga, 2.66 to 4.72; Region 6, 4.24 to 4.61; Region 4B, 3.74 to 4.61; Region 10, 2.14 to 4.60; Region 1, 3.15 to 3.46; Region 12,1.80 to 3.30; Region 7, 2.50 to 2.51; and Region 11, 1.50 to 2.28.
De Guzman also revealed that cases in Visayas and Mindanao continue to rise while NCR (National Capital Region) Plus areas showed a slowdown of case decline.
âAll Visayas regions [are] showing upward trendâfastest and highest for Region 6. Regions 9 and 10 had the highest spike in cases, all other regions in Mindanao are in an upward trend,â the DOH said at the Kapihan Session with the media.
As of May 26, De Guzman said that case spikes have been shifting to regions outside NCR Plus area.
On a national level, she noted a slowdown in decline starting mid-May, but the national positivity rate is unchanged from 12.8 percent in the previous 7 days.
Data from DOH showed that the countryâs average daily reported cases in May 19-25 stood at 5,130; May 12-18: 5,848; and April 9-15 (peak): 10,849. The country recorded an average of 1,700 cases in January-February.
NCR, Plus areas
For NCR, the average daily reported cases from May 19-25 was 1,049; May 12-18: 1,367; March 29-April 4 (peak): 5,537; and low cases recorded in the months of January-February: 431
After a consistent decrease in cases, the âPlusâ areas [outside the NCR] are now exhibiting a plateau, though Laguna showed some upward trend around first week of May.
The average daily reported cases in Plus areas were at: May 19-25: 865; May 12-18: 1,076; April 9-15 (peak): 2,297; January-February: 198
De Guzman, meanwhile, also noted that Regions 1 and 4B showed a continuous increase in cases.
âWe cannot limit mobility. Thus, the need for minimum public health standards and safety protocols to be well implemented to counter potential surges in the future,â De Guzman said, adding, â We need longer-term solutions to increase health care capacity as well as parallel efforts to meet surge demand and strategies for âpandemic- proofingâ the health care system.
The DOH official also said that deaths in May are at 1,538 deaths or 64 deaths per day, which is almost at last yearâs peak (August 2020).
Covid cases
On Thursday, the DOH logged 6,483 additional cases, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 1,200,430.
There were 4,335 recoveries and 210 deaths.
Of the total number of cases, 4.0 percent (48,109) are active, 94.3 percent (1,131,942) have recovered, and 1.70 percent (20,379) have died.
At least 25 duplicates were removed from the total case count. Of these, 22 are recoveries.
Four cases were found to have tested negative and removed from the total case count. Of these, two are recoveries.
Moreover, 139 cases previously tagged as recoveries were reclassified as deaths after final validation.
All laboratories were operational on May 25, 2021 but six were not able to submit their data to the Covid-19 Document Repository System.