Delta cases downtrend continues

MANILA – The Department of Health (DOH) on Friday reported that Delta cases continue to go down despite being the predominant variant of the coronavirus.

In a virtual media briefing, DOH spokesperson, Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire, said the country is at low to minimal risk case classification as of Wednesday, although nine out of 10 cases are attributed to the highly-transmissible variant.

“Bakit po natin napapababa ng ganito? Because we are doing an effective response para dito po sa ating mga kaso (How did we get this to go down this much? Because we are doing an effective response for our cases),” Vergeire said.

These include, she said, the intensified application of the Prevent-Detect-Isolate-Treat-Reintegrate-Vaccinate (PDITR+) response and the continued observance of minimum public health standards.

“Kahit na tumataas ang mga kaso ay patuloy tayong nagbakuna. And nakita ho natin ang epekto nitong pagbabakuna na ito dito po sa mga naging pagbaba ng kaso dito sa (Even when cases were rising we continued to vaccinate. And we can see the effect of vaccination through the downtrend of cases in the) National Capital Region,” Vergeire said.

Local government units also mounted an “effective and intensive response” through the application of granular lockdowns and by shortening the time between detection and isolation of infected persons to just two days.

“Na-a-isolate natin agad lahat ng mga hinihinala natin or suspect na cases or those confirmed at hindi na ho sila patuloy na nakakapag-kalat ng infection sa kanilang lugar (We are able to immediately isolate suspected or confirmed cases, preventing further spread of infections in their area),” Vergeire said.

On Friday, the DOH reported 1,485 new Covid-19 cases, bringing the number of active cases to 23,200 or just 0.8 percent of the total 2.8 million infections.

The DOH began administering Covid-19 booster shots to health care workers on Wednesday, with 2,488 doses injected.