In a virtual presser on January 10, the Department of Health (DOH)-Davao officials clarified that areas in the region are still low risk and will not yet be placed under Alert Level 3 soon.
Regional Director Annabelle Yumang said the region will increase to Level 3 if Covid-19 cases and bed utilization continue to increase.
“Kung muingon ta karon na kung maabot ba nato or mapailalom ba sa Alert Level 3 ang atong region, sa pagkakaron makita nato na dili pa ta makaabot ana (For now, we cannot say that the region will be placed under Alert Level 3 because we are not there yet),” said Yumang.
At the same time, Dr. Rachel Pasion, unit head of the Regional Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit of DOH-Davao, said the region is still under Alert Level 2 until January 15 as per the directive of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF).
“Ang Alert Level 2, case transmission is low and decreasing. Low risk pa pud ang health care utilization and low pud ang cases sa Covid-19 (Health care utilization and Covid-19 cases are still low). Total bed utilization rate and ICU is low pa pero naga increase (but increasing),” said Pasion.
According to Pasion, parameters of a higher Alert Level include the two-week growth rate and the 14-day average daily attack rate.
“Sa karon, atong two-week growth rate kay medyo nisaka na siya to high for the recent na two weeks. For the average daily attack rate nato, naa pa ta sa low pero sa trend sa atong mga kaso karon, expect jud nato na musaka pa sya (For now, our two-week growth rate is high while our average daily attack rate is still low but given the increasing trend of cases, we can expect that it will still increase),” said Pasion.
But Pasion emphasized that a surge will most likely happen if the minimum public health standard (MPHS) is not observed.
“MPHS gihapon atong panglaban kauban sa bakuna to fight sa Covid-19 (The MPHS and the vaccine is our protection against Covid-19),” Pasion said.
