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On Tuesday, February 15, 2022, Malacanang announced that the Philippines has been classified as low-risk.
"Nasa low-risk classification na po ang National Capital Region at ang buong Pilipinas," Acting Presidential Spokesperson and Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said in a Palace briefing, adding that three metrics, namely case growth, average daily attack rate per 100,000 population, and health system capacity, were used to determine the current classification.
During the press briefing, Department of Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire, a resource person explained that the average daily cases per day this week (February 8 to February 14, 2022) is 56% lower than the last cases week (February 1 to February 7, 2022).
The health official emphasized that the country's consistent decline in new COVID-19 cases had aided in managing our national health system capacity.
In the same briefing, Secretary Nograles thanked the public for their cooperation in adhering to the minimum public health standards and expressed satisfaction with the growing number of vaccinated people against COVID-19.
“All of the progress we have made to bring down the number of cases is a product of our collective efforts, and we thank our kababayans for their cooperation. We urge everyone to remain conscious of our health protocols as we work to build on the progress we continue to make,” Nograles emphasized.
Nograles, also Co-Chair of the Inter-Agency Task Force, stated that the pandemic's acute phase could end this year if the 70 percent vaccination target is met by the middle of 2022. Sec. Nograles noted that this is a matter of choice, citing the World Health Organization.
The Cabinet official cited the Philippines' goal of vaccinating 90 million Filipinos before the end of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte's term.
As of February 14, 2022, more than 61.6 million Filipinos had received full vaccinations. —Tacloban News Update (Source: OPS)