The Philippines is once again classified as a "high-risk" area for COVID-19 following the surge in its cases for the past two weeks, the Department of Health (DOH) said Monday.
"Nationally, our case classification is now at high-risk," Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a press briefing.
According to Vergeire, the country's COVID-19 cases increased to 42% for two weeks, averaging 8,829 per day from August 2-8.
She added that the cases for the highly contagious Delta variant were also detected in 13 out of 17 regions in the Philippines.
Metro Manila, Cordillera Administrative Region, Ilocos Region, Cagayan Valley, Calabarzon, Central Visayas, and Northern Mindanao were among regions tagged as "high-risk".
As of August 6, the Philippines also logged a high average daily attack rate (ADAR) of 7.20 cases per 100,000 population, the healthcare utilization rate of 54.70%, and intensive care units (ICU) occupancy of 61.71%.
