Over the weekend, the country has recorded a new high in COVID-19 infections with 2,434 cases reported. Of these, 1,147 are fresh cases and the rest are late cases.
The reason for this surge, a member of the Technical Advisory Group that advises the Department of Health says, is that the virus has become more infectious.
Dr. Edsel Salvana, who is also a professor at the University of the Philippines – Philippines General Hospital, on a Facebook post over the weekend, said: “We’re getting hit with the double whammy of a more infectious virus (see my previous post; no it’s not deadlier, but it is more contagious) and more opportunities and hosts for the virus to spread as we open up.”
Salvana also reiterated the need to stay indoors even though quarantine restrictions have eased because the virus is now “more infectious, about three to nine times more than the previous virus.”
So what can we do? Salvana said that the important thing now is to protect our healthcare system so it doesn’t get overwhelmed. We can do this by continuing our strict observance of safety protocols (mask-wearing, physical distancing and hand washing), going out only for necessary trips, and knowing protocols in place if you are exposed or diagnosed with mild symptoms.
“The overall mortality for COVID-19 is less than one percent. It is much lower for young people and those who develop mild disease. We need to keep the hospitals open for those with severe and critical diseases because if untreated these cases can have up to a five to ten percent mortality. We need to think about our vulnerable populations and prioritize them so that they will survive,” Salvana said.
As of writing, there are now 44,254 confirmed COVID-19 cases with 11,942 recoveries and 1,297 deaths in the country.
Header photo courtesy of Pangasinan Provincial Information Office (PIO)
Get more stories like this by subscribing to our weekly newsletter here.
Read more:
Sen. Sotto thinks our ‘attitude’ towards COVID-19 is a bigger headache than gov’t program
That 40k COVID-19 cases prediction we just ‘beat’? It might go up to 60k come July 30, says UP
So who’s to blame? Duterte’s angry at Cebuanos for not following COVID-19 protocols