COVID-19 on the rise again

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – The Department of Health said the number of the deadly COVID-19 cases is on the rise again in the country with nearly 200 people getting the respiratory disease.

It said the total number of active cases is now over 2,000, but DOH provided little or no details about the COVID-19 cases from each region. However, since the pandemic began in 2020, over 4 million Filipinos contracted the disease and more 66,000 had died from COVID-19. 

The virus first appeared on a small scale in November 2019 with the first large cluster appearing in Wuhan, China in December 2019. The disease quickly spread to 229 countries and territories around the world and the World Health Organization (WHO) reported a total of 697,391,000 confirmed cases of the COVID-19 and a death toll of 6,934,972. 

Last July, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. lifted the country’s public health emergency status after WHO considered COVID-19 as just one of the respiratory illnesses, although he renewed calls for Filipinos to get vaccinated against COVID-19 as their way of protecting the vulnerable sector. 

Marcos underscored the importance of the government’s vaccination program to protect those with comorbidities and the elderly.

He said getting the COVID-19 vaccine is not only good for the one who received it, but is also good for the protection of one’s family and the general public. “So, we must not let our guard down. Although the rest of society – the other sectors of our society have tried to move on and say the emergency is over and certainly in a way we can say that is the case. However, it is not over completely,” he said.

“And that is why we should not be complacent and that is why we institute programs like this, which continue to seek to protect our vulnerable populace, (the) vulnerable sectors of our populace and that particular demographic in this case is that of the elderly,” he added.

Records from the Department of Health (DOH) showed that the Philippines has fully vaccinated over 100% of the target population. (Mindanao Examiner)