Philippines records 464 COVID-19 cases on New Year’s Day

MANILA, Philippines — The country has recorded 464 new COVID-19 infections on New Year’s Day, the Department of Health said.

The latest figure brings the nationwide tally to 4,064,779. Data from the DOH also showed that active cases reached 13,061.

At the same time, the DOH noted there were 3,986,321 individuals who have recovered from the virus, while 65,397 deaths were tallied.

Among the top regions with cases in the past two weeks were the National Capital Region (NCR) with 3,245 cases, followed by Calabarzon with 1,521 and Central Luzon with 744.

Meanwhile, Western Visayas logged 395 cases and Ilocos region, 301 cases.

The DOH also recorded a total of 32,056,207 individuals who subjected themselves to COVID-19 testing.

Positivity rate down

The seven-day COVID positivity rate in the NCR was down from 11.6 to 9.1 percent at the end of 2022, OCTA Research group said yesterday.

In a tweet, OCTA fellow Guido David said the positivity rate, or the percentage of people found positive for COVID-19 among the total number of individuals tested, also dipped below five percent in Bulacan.

The positivity rates also decreased in Albay (35.4 to 31.3 percent), Batangas (10.6 to 7.8 percent), Cagayan (14.3 to 8.5 percent), Camarines Sur (27.3 to 16.6 percent), Cavite (10.6 to 8.6 percent), Ilocos Norte (8.8 to 5.6 percent), Ilocos Sur (44.8 to 25.4 percent), Kalinga (41.7 to 9.1 percent), La Union (9.7 to 8.1 percent), Laguna (19 to 10.5 percent), Mountain Province (7.8 to 7.3 percent), Nueva Ecija (34.8 to 28 percent), Pampanga (16.6 to 12.3 percent), Pangasinan (11.6 to 7.2 percent), Quezon (15.4 to 14.2 percent), Rizal (23.4 to 15.8 percent), Tarlac (15 to 10.4 percent) and Zambales (11.7 to 6.9 percent).

David said the positivity rate was lowest in Bulacan at 4.4 percent, from the previous week’s 9.2 percent.

But positivity rates increased in Isabela from 21.2 on Dec. 24 to 37.6 percent on Dec. 31, Bataan from 12.8 to 13.7 percent and Benguet from 8.2 to 9 percent.

Metro Manila remains the region with the most cases in the last 14 days with 3,245.

The DOH said there could be a slight increase in the number of COVID-19 cases in the coming days because of the holidays.

Specialty centers

To be better prepared against other illnesses apart from COVID, the DOH said 104 specialty centers catering to the different medical needs of Filipinos will be put up in different areas of the country within the year.

“This will provide better access to all Filipinos in terms of specialty care such as those sick with cancer, or those with heart or lung ailments, among others,” said DOH OIC Maria Rosario Vergeire at a recent press briefing.

She added, “Universal Health Care is our ultimate goal and to achieve this, we have these specialty centers which are also the priority of our President.”

According to the DOH, right now, there are 46 functional specialty centers across the country.At the same time, Vergeire reiterated that they already started integrating COVID-19 response and preventive measures into the department’s health programs.

Earlier, Vergeire said that in terms of program implementation, “apart from COVID-19, there are still non-COVID illnesses that we need to address.” – Pia Lee-Brago