The country’s daily average of new coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) cases increased by 112 percent from May 1 to 7, the Department of Health (DOH) reported Monday, May 8.
In its latest case bulletin, the agency recorded 1,352 daily infections from 637 recorded between April 24 to 30.
Additionally, there were 9,645 new cases and nine verified deaths in the recent week.
The tally of severe and critical infections increased to 410 from the previous week’s 351.
Only 16.5 percent or 346 out of the 2,097 intensive care unit (ICU) beds are in use, while 21.2 percent or 3,766 of 17,758 non-ICU beds are utilized.
At least 78,443,972 or 100.4 percent of the country’s target population (78,100,578) have been vaccinated against Covid-19, including 82.16 percent of 8,721,357 senior citizens, as of March 19.
A total of 23,811,248 have received booster shots out of the fully vaccinated population.
To date, the country has logged over 4.09 million coronavirus cases and 66,444 deaths since January 2020.
Also on Monday, a health expert said that the pandemic has not ended yet and people must continue to protect themselves.
In a televised public briefing, infectious disease expert Edsel Salvaña clarified that the World Health Organization’s lifting of the global emergency status for Covid-19 does not mean the coronavirus has ceased to exist.
“Covid is still there, but we have learned to live freely, we no longer hide in our homes,” he said.
Covid-19 cases may rise but hospitals are not overwhelmed by admissions as transmission of the virus is prevented by vaccination and other health protocols such as wearing of face mask, he added.
On Friday, the WHO ended the global emergency status for Covid-19 but it did not announce that the disease is no longer a global health threat.
Salvaña noted that the public health emergency status for Covid-19 in the country has not been renewed since January.
“We’ll see if our remaining restrictions can be slowly trimmed down like the quarantine, isolation, vaccination requirement in certain areas. For instance, we see that we no longer check vaccination cards for incoming travelers,” he said.
The Department of Health will meet with the Inter-Agency Task Force for Emerging Infectious Diseases to discuss and reassess policies and other guidelines concerning Covid-19.
