No rise in COVID-19 cases has been observed by the Department of Health (DOH) more than a week after Metro Manila and 38 other areas were put under alert level 1, according to Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire.
Under the lowest alert level, increased people’s mobility was expected given the 100-percent workforce capacity implemented by employers as well as establishments’ full-capacity operations.
Vergeire said the government was strictly monitoring public mobility and issuing constant reminders of compliance with minimum health standards, and pushing the national vaccination drive.
But a “dramatic decline” in the number of vaccines administered in the past months has prompted the government to again schedule national vaccination days (NVD)—the fourth such period—starting today.
Different from the earlier three, the March 10-12 NVD4 will focus on the administration of primary jabs and booster shots in houses and in doctors’ clinics.
Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., the chief implementer of the National Task Force Against COVID-19, spoke of the continuing drop in the number of vaccines administered during President Duterte’s “Talk to the People” aired on Monday night.
From an all-time high of 27.1 million shots in November, the output has decreased month after month, dropping 68 percent to 8.7 million in February.
“There has been a dramatic decline in our vaccinations. It’s really very low. The output really went down in February,” Galvez said.
The National Capital Region (NCR) and 38 other areas shifted to alert level 1, or the “new normal,” on March 1.
The DOH earlier said it was prepared for the worst-case scenario under the lowest alert level. But Health Secretary Francisco Duque III on Tuesday said it was too early to declare alert level 1 nationwide, with the government yet to meet its vaccination target of 70 percent of the population and 80 percent of the elderly.
Still, the independent pandemic monitor OCTA Research said the NCR remained at “low” risk for COVID-19.
From March 2 to 8, it said, the NCR had a “very low” reproduction rate (0.24), and positivity rate (3 percent). (©Philippine Daily Inquirer 2022 /Dexter Cabalza, Tina G. Santos)
