Manila COVID cases rising – Lacuna

By Paulina Icban

May 04, 2023

(Photo sourced from Devpolicy.org)

The confirmed COVID-19 cases in Manila City rose to 119 as of April 28, Manila Mayor Honey Lacuna-Pangan said.

“Mahigit isang daan nanaman ang kaso natin ng COVID dito sa ating lungsod, as of 12 noon ngayong araw mayroon po tayong naitalang panibagong 22 na kaso ng COVID,” she said during her capital report.

In Santa Ana Hospital alone, the positivity rate of COVID-19 cases hit 9.52% with 12 out of 126 total RT-PCR swab tests in the last 2 weeks.

Lacuna noted that these are the documented cases or those who underwent swab tests and turned out positive so she is encouraging Manilenos to get themselves tested.

“Ang kagandahan lang po niyan, siguro puro mild or asymptomatic ang mga kasong ito kaya wala tayong naitalang pagkamatay due to COVID,” she said.

However, she coaxed people to take care of themselves by following minimum health protocols – physical distancing, regular washing of hands and using disinfectants like alcohol, and the usage of face masks.

Although optional, Lacuna said that if it wouldn’t be too much of a bother in their daily lives, she hopes that people mask up especially when indoors or when in a place that is crowded.

“Mas maganda po na naka face mask tayo, lalong-lalo na po indoors at kung pupunta kayo sa lugar na mga matao lalong-lalo na yung mga high risk nating kababayan,” she said.

High-risk groups include senior citizens (60 years old and above), immunocompromised, people with comorbidities such as those with high blood pressure and diabetes, pregnant women, and people who are still unvaccinated or with incomplete doses.

In line with this, the mayor reminded that vaccines are available in health centers may it be Pfizer, AstraZeneca, or Sinovac. People who wish to get inoculated can visit from Mondays to Fridays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

“Again, vaccination is still the solution,” Lacuna said.

Arcturus

The rise of cases in the country coincided with the recording of the first case of XBB.1.16.

In the COVID-19 Biosurveillance Report released on Tuesday night, the case was detected in Western Visayas.

In a media briefing on April 6, the World Health Organization (WHO) said that XBB.1.16, an Omicron subvariant also known as Arcturus, was recently being monitored.

WHO’s overall risk assessment is low, noting that this variant “may spread globally and drive an increase in case incidence” due to its genetic features of being able to evade the body’s immune system, and its growth rate estimates deeming it more transmissible.

Although already detected in 33 countries, WHO said that there are also no early signals of an increase in severity.

On April 26, the Department of Health (DOH) said that the patient has already recovered and was asymptomatic.

In the country, DOH recorded an additional 1,190 positive cases bringing the total active tally to 8,371 on May 4.