No deaths, ‘very low’ Covid-19 cases in face-to-face classes

MANILA – The coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) infection rate among students of limited face-to-face classes nationwide is “very low” and has no fatality reported.

Commission on Higher Education (CHED) chair Prospero de Vera III said Tuesday all students who were infected did not need hospitalization and were asymptomatic.

There are more than 9,000 students physically attending classes in 118 approved medical and health institutions.

“The infection rate was very, very low. It is less than one percent. It is .03 percent of the students who got infected. All of the students gumaling na, walang namatay (have recovered, no one died), so that means, our guidelines are working,” he said during a televised public briefing.

Apart from the strict implementation of minimum public health standards, de Vera said 76 percent of students and 95 percent of faculty personnel reporting physically are vaccinated.

President Rodrigo Duterte has yet to decide on the CHED proposal for limited face-to-face classes for courses like in the engineering, hospitality, and maritime fields.

De Vera said students want to go back to school, graduate, take up licensure examinations, and eventually find jobs.

As for the appeal to postpone the licensure examinations for medical courses, de Vera emphasized that the safety of examinees must be prioritized.