DOH sees ICU admissions rise but PH still low risk from COVID-19

MANILA — The Philippines remains at low risk from the coronavirus despite a slight increase of patients admitted to intensive care units, the Department of Health said Friday.

According to DOH officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire, the country's ICU utilization rate rose to 28 percent from the previous 26 percent.

"Nationally, nananatili tayo sa low risk classification kahit meron tayong bahagyang pagtaas sa ICU admissions at sa mga severe at critical cases," she said in a press briefing.

An uptrend of ICU admissions and severe and critical cases of COVID-19 at the national level was noticed in early July, she added. The figure is almost similar to the level of hospital admissions recorded in March.

As of August 10, the country has 871 severe and critical COVID-19 cases, which translates to 9.27 percent of the total admissions.

Majority of those admitted to hospitals for COVID-19 remain asymptomatic (40.98 percent) and mild cases (40.77 percent), Vergeire said.

With an average daily attack rate of 3.51 cases per 100,000 population, the Philippines is still considered at low-risk classification, she added.
ADAR is defined as the number of infected people per 100,000 population.

But she noted the country's positivity rate increased to 18.5 percent from last week.

A slight uptick in COVID-19 cases was observed in Mindanao and "plus areas," which refers to Cavite, Rizal, Laguna, and Bulacan.

COVID-19 cases in the rest of Luzon and the Visayas, meanwhile, have shown signs of plateauing. For Metro Manila, coronavirus infections are on a slight downward trend, Vergeire said.

To date, there are 72 million Filipinos fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Of the tally, some 16.8 million have received their additional jab while 1.7 million have gotten their second booster shots.