‘Philippines may be nearing COVID-19 endemic stage’

MANILA, Philippines — An infectious diseases expert said that the country could be nearing the COVID-19 endemic stage as cases are now on a downward trend and severe and critical infections remain low.

“If you look at the cases, even globally, cases are already trending down, which means that the number of cases for the past week is stable. There is no significant increase although there is also no significant decrease but it is trending down to the point that it looks like it is becoming stable,” Dr. Rontgene Solante told “The Chiefs” on Cignal TV’s One News the other night.

Solante, head for Adult Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine at the San Lazaro Hospital, also noted that the country’s health care utilization rate continues to be stable at less than 50 percent.

“That is the situation for almost two to three months now,” he said of the hospitalization rate for COVID-19.

“What we use as basis is that if we are able to manage the infection, or if it is already controlled. So most likely, we are already on the brink of that (endemicity),” he added.

The medical expert explained: “When you say endemic, the virus is still here with us but is not able to disrupt our livelihood, our mobility and we are able to  control where we are headed – is it towards cases going up, or becoming stable, or on a downward trend.”

However, Solante said the country still needs to strengthen its health protocols, including intensifying efforts for vaccination before endemicity sets in.

“Endemicity means the cases remain, but are already low. There are still people who will get infected. There will still be that population that will develop severe symptoms but comparing with pandemic, the transmission is not that high anymore,” he said.

He stressed how endemicity of the population is not just about protection through vaccines, but also natural immunity. “You can see that a lot of people being infected with the Omicron subvariant since January, February and March, they already have this hybrid immunity,” said Solante.–  Romina Cabrera