DOH: Average daily COVID-19 cases down to 36 on 4th pandemic anniversary

The COVID-19 situation in the Philippines continues to improve four years after the pandemic struck, the Department of Health said Thursday.

Latest data from the DOH shows that the average daily cases of COVID-19 are now around 30, compared to thousands at the height of the global health crisis, which caused countries, including the Philippines, to close borders and impose mobility restrictions.

The Philippines later implemented a mass vaccination campaign to combat COVID-19.

There were 251 new COVID-19 cases reported from February 27 to March 4, 2024, which yielded an average of 36 cases daily. This was 27% lower than the average daily cases logged from February 20 to 26.

Up to 34,903 new cases were reported every day on average in January 2022.

“Four years after tayo first nag-declare ng COVID-19 pandemic nung 2020, ang ating number of new cases per day ay naglalaro na sa mga 25 to 30 per day on average. We could compare that back in 2021, 2022 nung kasagsagan ng pandemic, pumapalo tayo ng mga 30,000. Ibang iba na talaga ang sitwasyon,” DOH Assistant Secretary Albert Domingo said in an ambush interview.

(Four years after we first declared the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the number of new cases per day is now around 25 to 30 on average. We could compare that back in 2021 to 2022, when the pandemic was at its peak and we had about 30,000 cases per day. The situation now is entirely different.)

With this development, Domingo said that the Philippines had “definitely” moved past the worst of the pandemic.

As to hospital beds, the DOH said only 115 (10%) intensive care unit (ICU) beds for COVID-19 patients were occupied out of the 1,185 beds available. There were also 1,119 (11%) of the 10,097 dedicated non-ICU beds in use.

Only 156 severe and critical cases were also admitted to various hospitals due to the virus.

Of the new COVID-19 cases recently reported, only three had a severe or critical disease. Seven deaths were also recorded, of which five occurred in February 2024.

Domingo said that should there be another pandemic to hit the country, the DOH is “very much prepared” to handle the situation, citing lessons learned from COVID-19.

“If magkaron tayo ng bagong pandemic, sabi nga ng WHO let’s be ready for Disease X, which is any unknown disease na pwedeng tumama sa’tin in the future, pwedeng gawin ulit isolation center ‘yung ating mga BUCAS centers if kailangan,” he added.

(If we get hit by a new pandemic, as the WHO (World Health Organization) says, let’s be ready for Disease X or any unknown disease that can hit us in the future. We can utilize our BUCAS centers as isolation centers again if necessary.)

It was in July last year when President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. lifted the State of Public Health Emergency throughout the Philippines due to COVID-19 through Proclamation No. 297. — VBL, GMA Integrated News