COVID-19 pandemic: Latest situation in the Philippines – February 2022

The anti-graft court Sandiganbayan will resume in-court hearings on  Wednesday, February 16, after these were suspended for six weeks due to the latest COVID-19 surge. 

Office and court hours will be from 8 am to 4:30 pm, according to the Administrative Order (AO) No. 017-2022 issued by Presiding Justice Amparo Cabotaje-Tang. 

Only 80% capacity will be allowed in the justices’ chambers and all Sandiganbayan offices. The rest of the workforce will continue working from home. 

Minimum health standards and physical distancing will be strictly observed, the AO said. 

The Philippines is now recognizing vaccination cards issued by the governments of Malaysia and Ireland.

The Interagency Task Force announced this in a resolution dated February 14.

For one week straight, daily COVID-19 cases in the Philippines dipped below 5,000 after the Department of Health (DOH) reported 2,730 new infections on Monday, February 14.

This brings the country’s total caseload to 3,639,942. Read more.

Metro Manila will remain on Alert Level 2, the second lowest alert level for COVID-19, until February 28, Acting Presidential Spokesperson and Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said on Monday, February 14. 

The government’s coronavirus task force also placed seven areas in the Visayas and Mindanao under Alert Level 3 from Wednesday, February 16, until the end of the month.

Details here.

The Philippines now has 3,637,280 confirmed COVID-19 cases after the Department of Health (DOH) reported 3,050 new cases on Sunday, February 13. It is the new lowest reported one-day tally of new cases in 2022 so far.

The DOH reported no new deaths due to the coronavirus disease. However, it noted that this is due to “technical issues in extracting data” from its COVIDKaya system. The death toll remains at 54,930.

Meanwhile, recoveries were up by 5,811, raising the total to 3,500,956.

Of the total cases, 81,394 or 2.2% are active.

A total of 52,262 children aged 5 to 11 have been vaccinated since the initial rollout began on Monday, February 7, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said during a Laging Handa briefing on Saturday, February 12.

Of these, Vergeire said there were only four reported reactions, which were minor and were managed immediately. “Meron pong nagpantal, meron hong sumakit ang ulo, at ito naman po ay agad po nating namanage at nakauwi naman po ang ating mga kabataan,” Vergeire said.

She added that they will prioritize larger areas, including Central Visayas and the Davao Region, for next week.