MANILA — The Department of Health said Friday it hoped that COVID-19 would no longer be a public health emergency in 2023.

The DOH made the statement after the World Health Organization said it saw the end of the emergency phase of the pandemic this year.

"We're hopeful that totoo at mangyari 'yung sinasabi ni WHO but it doesn't fully depend on us, it depends on how this virus will change," Dr. Alethea De Guzman, director of DOH's epidemiology bureau, told reporters in a virtual town hall forum.

The health official, however, believed the pandemic remains a waiting game.

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"We don't want to be blindsided by the emergence of new variants. I think for me that's the only unknown that remains here," De Guzman said. "Kasi patuloy siyang nagbabago eh. Every month may bago na namang variant."

Globally, omicron and its subvariants have become the most prevalent among samples submitted in GISAID in 2022.

Despite the lingering threat of COVID-19, De Guzman said the world is not anymore "helpless" against the virus.

She said countries now have the tools to manage severe cases of COVID-19.

'LOW RISK'

In the forum, De Guzman said the country's health system capacity remains at "low risk" despite an uptick in COVID and non-COVID hospital admissions.

The health official also presented 3 projections should more contagious and immune-evasive coronavirus variants emerge in the Philippines.

First, hospital and ICU occupancy are expected to plateau at around 2,000 and 250 admissions, respectively, if there's no new variant of concern last December.

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But cases may peak in late March with 3,556 total admissions and 426 ICU admissions in the event of a more transmissible variant.

Lastly, projected admissions with the occurrence of an immune-escaping variant is expected to peak in late April 2023, with 4,742 total admissions and 612 ICU admissions.

As of Jan. 12, the Philippines has 12,006 active COVID-19 cases. It has so far tallied 4,069,147 coronavirus infections, with 65,526 fatalities.

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