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

COVID-19 infections continue to drop in the country, and if the public will continue to comply with public health standards, daily cases are seen to drop to 70 by the end of April, the Department of Health (DOH) said on Tuesday, March 29.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said that this projection is based on the status quo, which means that the country will retain the current mobility patterns and keep complying with the minimum public health standards and vaccinations.

“Nationally, we will have daily cases of 70 to 268,” Vergeire said. However, if the public will not be compliant with health standards, daily infections may shoot up to 270. 

The government is set to hold special vaccination days from March 29 to 31 in Davao region, Cebu province, and Cotabato City, and March 30 to April 1 in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, to boost the country’s COVID-19 vaccine coverage.

Read more.

Malacañang says foreign travelers should present “acceptable proof of vaccination.”

Read more.

The health secretary says the government will focus on helping Alert Level 2 areas to be deescalated to Alert Level 1.

Read more.

Two years after the coronavirus pandemic shuttered the Philippines, most parts of the country have fully reopened, with the Duterte government pressed to usher in a “new normal” and jumpstart the road to recovery. 

Vaccinations are in full swing, students have started returning to schools, while restaurants, cinemas, and stores have opened for business. Millions of Filipinos likewise appear ready to move beyond the pandemic. 

But between then and now, over 57,000 Filipinos have died and more than 3.67 million more have gotten sick with COVID-19. Only 57% of all Filipinos have gotten fully vaccinated. 

Rappler reviews some of the major changes that have taken place locally, two years on. 

Read the full article here.

Omicron is not the end of viral evolution and there is no guarantee that the next variant will not be even more transmissible than Omicron while simultaneously being more virulent than Delta.

Rather than merely wishing that the transition to the endemic state will be brought about by succeeding Omicron-like variants, we should undertake the difficult and unfinished public health actions that will make endemicity more likely. 

If we could only do one thing, the most effective way to end the pandemic would be to vaccinate the elderly. About 2.6 million elderly Filipinos are still unprotected from the virus.

Read the detailed recommendations by Dr. John Wong of the public health research firm EpiMetrics here.

The Philippines’ Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted emergency use authorization (EUA) for the Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine for children aged 6 and above, providing another vaccine option for this age group in the country.

Read more.