News Roundup 29 May 2021
May 29, 2021 • 3 min Read
Philippines sees 7,443 new coronavirus infections | PHILSTAR.COM – The Department of Health on Saturday recorded 7,443 additional COVID-19 cases, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 1,216,582.
- Active cases: 53,614 or 4.4% of the total
- Recoveries: 7,553, pushing total to 1,142,246
- Deaths: 156, bringing total to 20,722
Philippines detects 242 new cases of coronavirus variants of concern | PHILSTAR.COM – The Department of Health announced Saturday that health authorities have detected a total of 242 new cases of various coronavirus variants classified as variants of concern. Of these, 137 are new cases of the variant first identified in South Africa (B.1.351), while 104 are new cases of the variant first identified in the United Kingdom (B.1.1.7), and one is a new case of the variant first identified in India (B.1.617). The DOH also announced the detection of four more cases of the variant first identified in the Philippines, which is still not considered a variant of concern. The DOH did not release further details on the new cases of coronavirus variants. A variant of concern is defined as one with increase in transmissibility, increase in virulence or change in clinical disease presentation, and decrease in effectiveness of public health measures or available diagnostics, vaccines and therapeutics.
Davao City hospital running out of ICU beds | INQUIRER.NET – The Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC) is close to running out of intensive care unit (ICU) beds as new COVID-19 cases in the city experienced a surge since the previous week. “Our hospital utilization rate is already at critical level, particularly SPMC, where almost everyday, our ICU beds are almost 100 per cent occupied, our isolation and COVID-19 ward beds are at 70 percent,” said Dr. Ashley Lopez, acting head of the Davao City Health Office and focal person for COVID-19. “These are indicators that (we are reaching) critical level,” he added. He said the city had been experiencing a surge of COVID-19 cases as average active cases in the city hovered at 90 to more than 100 cases per day in the recent week. “Cases are rising,” Lopez said over the city government-run Davao City Disaster Radio. “There is already a surge not just in Davao City but also in the whole of Mindanao,” he added. As of 6 p.m. on May 25, the Department of Health (DOH) reported 173 new active cases in Davao City for the day alone, which brought to 1,035 the total number of active cases in the city. Of the 16,101 COVID-19 cases monitored in the city since pandemic was declared in March 2020, at least 14,251 cases recovered but 739 died.
Robredo bats for higher COVID-19 vaccination goal; urges ‘herd immunity’ drive | Manila Bulletin – Vice President Leni Robredo believed that the country can meet its target to achieve “population protection” but said it would have been better if the government stuck with the original goal which was “herd immunity.” Robredo made the statement after the Department of Health (DOH) said on Wednesday that the country was now eyeing population protection against COVID-19 before the end of the year. In an interview with “Viewpoint” over the Now You Know Facebook page, Robredo said there was nothing wrong with the government eyeing population protection but wondered why they would settle with it. “Nakita ko yung schedule ng pagdating ng mga vaccines. Attainable siya (herd immunity) as long as we prepare for it. Para sa akin hindi siya imposible (I saw the schedule of the arrival of vaccines. Herd immunity is attainable as long as we prepare for it. I don’t think it’s impossible),” she said. “Okay naman yung sinasabi nilang (I’m fine with) population protection but why settle for less if we can do more?” she added. Herd immunity requires 70 to 80 percent of the country’s population to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Population protection, on the other hand, targets to vaccinate the members of the population who are more susceptible to the disease and are likely to show severe symptoms.
