By Isabella Magno

The Department of Health (DOH) reported at a press briefing on Tuesday, June 28, that the country may record up to 17,000 daily COVID-19 cases by the end of July due to “poor” compliance with minimum public health standards (MPHS). 

The drop in compliance to MPHS–which includes wearing masks, washing hands, and physical distancing–ranged between 20% and 22%, according to the Feasibility Analysis of Syndromic Surveillance Using Spatio-Temporal Epidemiological Modeler, a disease surveillance tool by the DOH. 

As there has been a spike in cases in the previous weeks, health authorities have predicted on June 22 that the daily cases in the National Capital Region (NCR) alone may reach roughly 2000 by the end of July. 

However, since the health sector noted that severe and critical cases remained below 1,000 and that healthcare consumption rates were at low risk in the majority of the country, the Alert Level 1 was extended from July 1 to July 15 in NCR. 

“We remain in the low-risk case classification because we are still in the less than one per 100,000 population and average daily attack rate,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a statement obtained by the Philippine Star.  

“COVID-19 is here to stay. What would be most important for all of us would be that cases are mild, cases might be asymptomatic, there are less severe and critical [cases], and our hospitals will be manageable,” Vergeire said, highlighting that the health sector will focus more on the severity rather than the number of recorded cases.

In addition, the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases has eliminated the COVID-19 two-week growth rate criterion in determining the alert level in an area. 

The classification of case risk levels in a region will be based on the updated cross-tabulation of total hospital bed utilization rate and average daily attack rate, according to the new matrix announced by acting presidential spokesperson Martin Andanar on Wednesday, June 28. 

Photo from Rappler