The Philippines may soon reach the endemic stage of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) according to an infectious diseases expert.
“Malapit na. Sa tingin ko, maaabot din natin ‘yan. We just have to continue our ginagawa ngayon para maabot natin ‘yun,” Dr. Rontgene Solante told radio station dzBB when asked about the country’s transition to COVID-19 endemicity.
In a separate interview, Solante explained the definition of endemic and the metrics for such a declaration.
“What we use as basis is that if we are able to manage the infection, or if it is already controlled. So most likely, we are already on the brink of that (endemicity),” he said in television program One News.
He elaborated: “When you say endemic, the virus is still here with us but is not able to disrupt our livelihood, our mobility and we are able to control where we are headed – is it towards cases going up, or becoming stable, or on a downward trend.”
As early as April, the Philippines was already seeing signs of shifting from the pandemic to endemic state of COVID-19 according to another infectious diseases expert Dr. Edsel Salvana.
This was attributed to the country’s lower healthcare utilization rate and decreasing COVID-19 infections.
However, both Solante and Salvana reminded the public to remain cautious by strictly following minimum health standards and getting vaccinated against COVID-19.
Thumbnail photo from Unsplash
