WHO lauds PH pandemic response

MANILA – The World Health Organization has commended the country’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.

In an online media forum, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said WHO Regional Director for Western Pacific, Dr. Takeshi Kasai, commended Health Secretary Francisco Duque III’s “solid leadership” amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Gayundin, binati ng Covax ang ating naging agarang pag-angkat ng mga bakuna sa ating bansa. Lahat ng ito ay ginagawa ng ating pamahalaan at Kagawaran ng Kalusugan para sa proteksiyon ng bawat Pilipino (The Covax also commended our immediate purchase of Covid-19 vaccines. The government and Department of Health do all these for the protection of all Filipinos),” she said, referring to the global initiative for supporting fair vaccine allocation.

As of April 7, more than 66.5 million or 73.9 percent of our targeted population are already fully vaccinated against Covid-19.

Out of the 47.5 million eligible citizens, more than 12.3 million have received their booster shots.

About 1.1 million children and 9 million adolescents have been fully vaccinated against the disease.

Vergeire said coronavirus cases in the National Capital Region and all island groups are experiencing a plateau.

For the period of March 31 to April 6, the country logged 2,499 new infections which brought the total confirmed cases to 3,680,244 with only .88 percent of them active.

The low number of cases indicates low positivity rate from last week’s 2 percent to 1.8 positivity rate for the recent week.

The average number of daily cases is 357 — two percent lower compared to the previous week.

Vergeire noted that most of the Covid-19 admissions are mild and moderate cases.

As of April 5, data from the National Admissions by Health Status showed that 1,142 of the cases were asymptomatic; 2,158, mild; 2,194, moderate; 476, severe and 231, critical.