Virus cases breach 1M, DOH revs up response
THE Department of Health is doubling its efforts in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic after the total number of cases breached the one million mark.
Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire, DOH spokesperson, said that following the recent development, they are now intensifying measures that they have been undertaking such as improving localized response, expanding the country’s health system, ramping up the testing capacity, and improving the isolation facilities.
“We’re doubling our efforts. Whatever we have been doing in the past, we are intensifying,” she said.
Vergeire said that despite limited resources, the DOH has been doing these things even at the start of the pandemic.
“Since the start of the response, we have been trying to ramp up everything in the health system, ‘yun nga lang po ang resources kailangang ibalance sa lahat ng sector,” she explained.
On Monday, the COVID-19 tally in the country crossed one million after the DOH recorded 8,929 new infections. The country now has a total of 1,006,428 infections.
The DOH said the new infections brought the total active cases in the country to 74,623 — 95.4% of which were mild, 1.4% were asymptomatic, 1.3% were severe, and 1% were critical cases.
Meanwhile, the total number of recoveries climbed to 914,952 after 11,333 more patients defeated the respiratory illness. The death toll, on the other hand, rose to 16,853 with 70 new fatalities.
Vergeire called on individuals experiencing COVID-19 symptoms to quickly isolate themselves to avoid further transmission.
“Nagpapaalala po tayo sa ating mga kababayan maya’t maya na kapag nakaranas na ng sintomas ay mag-isolate na po so that we can stop the transmission of the disease,” she said.
The DOH official said that though the reproduction rate in the National Capital Region has gone down since stricter quarantine protocols were reimposed in late March, the daily attack rate remains high.
“Nakikita natin na effective yung mga ginawa natin pero kulang pa po para tayo ay talagang makapagpababa ng mga kaso, so tuloy-tuloy pa po dapat ang mga ginagawa natin. Nobody should be complacent at this point,” she stressed.
