DOH urges 18 areas under Alert Level 3 to prep hospitals as cases increase

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Health has strongly urged at least 18 areas under Alert Level 3 to ready their hospitals for a possible surge in coronavirus cases.

In a press briefing, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire listed 18 out of 99 areas under Alert Level 3 that saw trends which mimicked Metro Manila’s spike in infections. But unlike the capital region, they had much lower vaccination rates. “Those with low vaccination rates will need to prepare their hospital capacity,” Vergeire said on Tuesday, January 18.In recent weeks, the Philippines has witnessed skyrocketing infections fueled by the highly transmissible Omicron variant and increased gatherings during the holiday season. Daily case tallies continued to hover in the 20,000s to 30,000s – with several single-day counts shattering records previously set during the surge fueled by the Delta variant in mid-2021.

Metro Manila has so far accounted for the most number of new cases in past weeks, but the DOH warned that similar increases were now being seen across all regions in the country. Health officials earlier described the increase in all other regions as “very swift,” with cases at least eight to nine times higher compared to about a month ago.

This included the nearby provinces of Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal which during the start of December saw an average of 153 cases per day, but by the end of the month were seeing some 1,400 cases per day.

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