THE health systems in two cities in Metro Manila have reached a critical level while three other cities and Davao Occidental are at high risk, and eight areas, including Cebu Province and two cities in Cebu, are at moderate risk.
Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Francisco Duque III on Monday, March 8, 2021, confirmed that hospital admissions were rising as cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) have continued to increase in Calabarzon, Central Luzon, Central Visayas and National Capital Region (NCR).
Pasay City and Malabon City have been classified as critical risk, Duque said.
Those at high risk are the cities of Navotas, Makati and San Juan, all in Metro Manila or NCR.
Duque recommended the deployment of additional contact tracers in these cities.
Although Central Visayas and the Cordillera Administrative Region have the highest healthcare utilization (HCU) rates among the regions, at 48 and 47 percent, respectively, Duque said they remained classified as low risk or are within the safe zone.
“Pero maigi lang, Mr. President, nasa low risk classification pa rin po ang dalawang regions na ito,” Duque said.
Those at moderate risk are Lapu-Lapu City, Ormoc City, Nueva Vizcaya, Santiago City, Ifugao, Mandaue City, Mandaluyong City and Cebu province.
As of March 8, DOH reported a total of 597,763 Covid-19 cases in the country, with 12,521 deaths and 545,912 recoveries. There remained 39,330 active cases in hospitals and isolation facilities.
Quezon City posted the highest running total of new cases in the last 14 days to March 7, the DOH Covid-19 tracker showed.
Quezon City recorded 2,033 new cases for the period, followed by Cebu City with 2,011 cases, Pasay City (1,805), Manila (1,660) and Cebu Province (1,125).
Among the regions, NCR has the highest number of new cases for the period at 11,788, followed by Central Visayas (4,671), Calabarzon (2,823), Central Luzon (1,901) and Cordillera (1,365). (Marites Villamor-Ilano / SunStar Philippines)