The Philippines may continue to record an increase in Covid-19 cases until June based on the projections of the Department of Health (DOH), Officer-in-Charge Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire reported on Tuesday.
“We are seeing na medyo may pagtaas pa hanggang mga 600 na numero ng kaso (it is still increasing up to 600). Eventually, siguro kapag tapos ng Hunyo na ‘yan (maybe after June), hopefully pababa na ang mga kaso (it will go down),” Vergeire said in a media forum.
The DOH said Covid-19 cases registered an uptrend with the National Capital Region (NCR) still exhibiting the steepest increase.
Meanwhile, increase of cases in Visayas and Mindanao are starting to slow down.
“Nationally, while cases are on an upward trend, ICU and severe/critical admissions remain at a plateau,” the DOH said.
Zero deaths
Vergeire, on the other hand, clarified that no deaths were reported recently due to “lack of data.”
“Hindi pa po validated ang information, kulang-kulang pa po (The information has yet to be validated, so it is still lacking). So hindi po natin ma-assess (So we can’t still assess) if the person died of Covid or died of other illnesses,” Vergeire explained.
Masking
Despite the high Covid cases, Vergeire said the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) does not recommend the return of restrictions like mandatory masking.
Over the weekend, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. said he is mulling over the reimposition of mandatory masking curb the increase in Covid cases.
However, prior to the pronouncement of the President, Vergeire said, they have already submitted a recommendation last week that there may be no need to restore the facemask mandate.
“Ang Kagawaran ng Kalusugan at ang iba’t ibang miyembro ng IATF ay nakapagpasa na po ng rekomendasyon sa ating Pangulo tungkol sa hindi na kinakailangang pagbalik ng mga restriction katulad ng mandatory masking at pagsuot na lamang nito sa mga at-risk nating mga kababayan and in high-risk situation (The Department of Health, along with other members of the IATF, has submitted a recommendation to our President that there is no need to return the restrictions like mandatory masking but instead it should only be worn by persons who are at risk and in high-risk areas),” she said.
Vergeire stressed that the mindset of the people should change or shift as cases go up and sometimes may decline.
“And the virus, throughout its life cycle, nagmu-mutate ang virus na ito and it will produce variants every now and then,” she reminded.
“Ang kailangan lamang po nating lahat ay matuto tayo, bawat sarili natin, alam natin kung paano poproteksyunan ang sarili pati ang ating pamilya. And with that, piliin natin na mag-mask tayo sa mga high risk na mga lugar (We need to learn among ourselves, we should know how to protect ourselves and also our family. And with that, we should choose to wear mask in high-risk areas),” Vergeire said. And while cases are going up, Vergeire said, “We need to increase our tolerance.”
-30-
Image credits: Bernard Testa