THE coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues to constitute a public health emergency of international concern, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday as it announced it was sustaining its highest form of alert against the illness.
The pandemic was likely in a “transition point” that continues to need careful management to “mitigate the potential negative consequences,” the WHO said in a statement.
It has been three years since the WHO first declared that COVID represented a global health emergency. More than 6.8 million people have died during the outbreak, which has touched every country on Earth, ravaging communities and economies.
However, the advent of vaccines and treatments has changed the pandemic situation considerably since 2020, and WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said he hopes to see an end to the emergency this year, particularly if access to counter-measures can be improved globally.
“We remain hopeful that in the coming year, the world will transition to a new phase in which we reduce (COVID) hospitalizations and deaths to their lowest possible level,” Tedros told a separate WHO meeting on Monday.
Advisers to the WHO expert committee on the pandemic’s status told Reuters in December that it was likely not the moment to end the emergency given the uncertainty over the wave of infections in China after it lifted its strict zero-COVID measures at the end of 2022.
In the Philippines, the weekly case bulletin of the Department of Health (DOH) showed that the average daily cases of COVID-19 continue to drop, with only 172 average daily infections, or a total of 1,206 cases, reported from January 23 to 29.
The DOH said the figure is 36 percent lower than the number of cases reported during the week of January 16 to 22.
There was one additional severe and critical case during the past week and 74 deaths.
The case bulletin said there are 456 severe and critical cases in the country, as of January 29. Of these patients, 330 are occupying ICU beds, or 14 percent of the 2,359 total ICU beds nationwide.
On the other hand, there are 3,606 patients occupying COVID-19 beds, which is 19.5 percent of the 18,467 total COVID-19 beds allocated nationwide.
Meanwhile, the independent OCTA Research said the COVID-19 positivity rate in the National Capital Region (NCR) has slid back down, signifying that the uptick that it recorded over the weekend was a one-off event.
In a social media post, OCTA fellow Guido David said the positivity rate in Metro Manila has dropped to 2.3 percent, as of January 28. It was up at 2.4 percent on January 27.
“For now, it looks like the spike is just a one off,” he said, even as he added that the group will continue to monitor the COVID-19 trend in the region.
The OCTA reported on Sunday a small increase in the COVID-19 positivity rate in Metro Manila after Metro’s testing rate climbed to 2.4 percent, as of January 27, from 2 percent on January 26.
The DOH said there are several reasons why the positivity rate trend may change.
In a statement, it said: “There are many factors affecting the positivity rate, one of which is our policy on symptomatic testing… The increased probability of getting a positive result is due to the fact that majority of those getting tested are having symptoms.”
Infectious disease expert Dr. Rontgene Solante, who is an officer of the Philippine College of Physicians, said the government should determine and ensure that no new COVID-19 variants have entered the country.
In an interview with radio DzBB, Solante said the standard procedure is to investigate if an increase in COVID-19 infections is a result of a new variant or Omicron subvariant that may have entered the country.
He added while many of the cases in the country are now “mild,” people should continue to comply with the minimum public health standards, especially masking, and should be vaccinated and boosted.
“Nandito pa rin tayo sa pandemic. Nandito pa rin ‘yung COVID. And especially, the COVID virus has totally mutated to a more highly transmissible virus. Nandito pa rin tayo sa stage na hindi dapat tayo kumpiyansa (We are still in the pandemic. The COVID is still here. And especially, the COVID virus has totally mutated to a more highly transmissible virus. We are still at the stage where we should not be complacent),” he said. — With Jocelyn Montemayor and Reuters
