Despite easing community restrictions and reopening the economy, the Department of Health (DOH) remains hopeful that the country will not see spikes in COVID-19 infections similar to what has happened in Europe.
“Hopefully that will not happen to us. That’s why we’re giving early warnings on what has been happening in other countries so that we won’t reach a similar situation,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said at a press briefing on Monday.
In recent weeks, a number of European countries have been reporting a resurgence of COVID-19 infections.
Vergeire said loosening restrictions and requirements for minimum public health standards appeared to be the main reasons for the rise in COVID-19 cases in the European countries.
In the Netherlands, most restrictions, including mask mandates, were also lifted in June as long as social distancing of 1.5 meters is followed, she added.
Nevertheless, the health official stressed that the country must continue to be prepared in the event of such a surge.
Meanwhile, the DOH on Tuesday recorded 1,153 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the nationwide tally to 2,827,820.
The country’s COVID-19 positivity rate was at 2.3 percent, slightly lower than the 2.8 percent positivity rate recorded on Monday.
The new cases brought the country’s active case count to 18,721, of which 55.2 percent are mild, 20.51 percent are moderate, 4.7 percent are asymptomatic, 13.8 percent are severe, and 5.8 percent are in critical condition.
The DOH also reported that 2,182 people recovered from the respiratory illness, bringing the total number of recoveries to 2,761,617.
The death toll climbed to 47,482 with 195 new fatalities.
Based on the latest case bulletin, two laboratories were not operational since Nov. 21, while eight laboratories failed to submit data to the COVID-19 Document Repository System. (©Philippine Daily Inquirer 2021)
