Health official: Davao City exits surge as positivity rate drops to 5%

Photo by Macky Lim/SunStar file

By IONA FINLAY C. MENDOZA, SunStar Davao

AN OFFICIAL of the Davao City Covid-19 Task Force said the recent surge, suspected to have been caused by the Omicron variant of the Sars-CoV-2 virus, is over as the positivity rate drops to five percent as of February 20.

“Unta mag padayon siya but maging consistent lang ni siya kung consistent ang mga tao sa ilang pagka-disiplinado (It will only be consistent if the public is disciplined),” Dr. Michelle Schlosser, spokesperson of the Covid-19 Task Force, said during a radio interview on Wednesday, February 23.

In the latest Covid-19 Regional Daily Case Bulletin of the Department of Health (DOH)-Davao, as of February 22, Davao City had 588 total active cases, a significant development compared to approximately two weeks ago when a total of 3,930 active cases were tallied on February 6.

The City Government of Davao also announced that Davao City was classified as low risk for Covid-19 transmission after achieving a "low" -84.72 two-week growth rate (2WGR) and a "medium" 3.79 average daily attack rate (Adar).

With these developments, Schlosser said the City Government will continue to implement the Prevent-Detect-Isolate-Reintegrate (PDITR) + Vaccination strategy to keep the Covid-19 management in place.

This includes proper contact tracing, swabbing, testing, quarantine and isolation.

“(Hopefully) Consistent pud ang tao na magpadayon sa kooperasyon sa mga lakang sa gobyerno labi na gyod sa atong vaccination rollout,” Schlosser said.

(Hopefully, the public will consistently cooperate with the government’s protocols, especially with the vaccination rollout.)

The spokesperson previously said a positivity rate of five percent or lower would be a clear indication that the surge is over since it is the only "acceptable" positivity rate, and that any number over five percent is still considered high.

Meanwhile, the whole of Davao Region recorded a total of 2,975 active cases as of February 22, based on the data of DOH-Davao.

Of this number, Davao del Sur had the highest number of active cases with 1,080, followed by the 588 cases from Davao City.

Davao del Norte recorded 484 active cases, 394 cases from Davao Occidental, 222 cases from Davao de Oro, and 207 cases from Davao Oriental.

Expert: Philippines now exiting Covid-19 pandemic

By THIRD ANNE PERALTA-MALONZO, SunStar Manila

AN INFECTIOUS disease expert said on Wednesday, February 23, 2022, that the Philippines is already exiting from the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic.

In a Laging Handa public briefing, infectious disease specialist and government pandemic response consultant Dr. Rontgene Solante said this is indicated in the continuous decrease in Covid-19 cases and the country’s ability to deal with severe and critical infections.

“Yes, I think we are on that process now, our mindset, hopefully, we can be exiting this pandemic, we can exit with this pandemic. Napaka-importante ng pagbaba ng kaso (The decline in cases is very important) because this is an important indicator na once we had na lower na ‘yung cases natin, we can deal with the virus, we know how to deal with it,” he said.

“And I think isa sa mga punto natin we also have available anti-viral agents that are appropriate against this infection we have oral and IV antivirals, our health care facilities are already equipped on how to deal with severe Covid, so for me, we are better of prepared now compared to two or one year ago,” he added.

Solante also maintained the importance of vaccination against Covid-19, especially the booster, in order for the country to be free from the pandemic and shift to endemic or learning to live normally along with the virus.

The country has shifted to low risk classification following a surge brought about by the Omicron variant in January.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, in his report during President Rodrigo Duterte’s Talk to the People Address on Monday, February 21, noted the continuous decline in Covid-19 cases nationwide, as well as hospital admissions brought about by Covid-19 infection.

Duque said from the seven days average of 16,000 cases on January 25 to 31, it went down to 1,972 from February 15 to 21.

The Department of Health (DOH) reported a total 1,019 fresh Covid-19 cases on Tuesday, pushing the total active cases to 56,668.

The country has a total Covid-19 caseload of 3,654,284, with 55,776 deaths and 3,541,840 recoveries.

Of the active cases, 704 were asymptomatic, 51,395 were mild, 2,840 moderate, 1,425 severe and 304 critical.

Of the 90 million targets of the National Government, 62,505,204 have been fully vaccinated while over 61.9 individuals have received the first dose. (SunStar Philippines)