St.

Paul University Surigao

St. Paul University System
8400 Surigao City, Philippines

Xyle Faye E. Frias September 20, 2021

BSN – 301 NRS 109

 Answer the following questions:

1. Compare the health care situations globally and in the Philippines based on both reports.

Philippines Health Care Situation Global Health Care Situation

 Data reported by the Department of Health on 2  Data reported by the World Health Organization
August 2021 on 15 August 2021
 Cumulative number of cases:  Cumulative number of cases:
1,605,762 (51.1% are male, with the most 206 million
affected age group 25-34 years) Cumulative Cases
Cumulative Cases WHO Region
Region (%)
(%) America 39%
National Capital Europe 30%
34.7%
Region Southeast Asia 19%
CALABARZON 16.7% Eastern Mediterranean 7%
Central Luzon 9% Western Pacific 3%
Central Visayas 5.8% Africa 3%
Western Visayas 5.6%  Cumulative number of deaths:
 Cumulative number of deaths: 4.4 million deaths
28, 093 deaths (57.5% are male) Cumulative Deaths
Cumulative Deaths WHO Region
Region (%)
(%) America 47%
National Capital Europe 29%
29.6%
Region Southeast Asia 14%
CALABARZON 12.5% Eastern Mediterranean 6%
Central Luzon 12.7% Western Pacific 2%
Central Visayas 8.6% Africa 3%
Western Visayas 6.6%  The crude mortality rate varies substantially by
 The case fatality ratio is 1.7%. country depending on the populations affected.
 A total of 216 cases of variant of concern (VOC) Variant Countries reported
Delta (B.1.617.2) have been detected in the Alpha 190 countries
Philippines. Beta 138 countries (1 new)
 The COVID-19 laboratory network has Gamma 82 countries (1 new)
maintained an average of more than 50,000 tests Delta 148 countries (3 new)
per day with a daily average cumulative
positivity rate of 12.6% in the past two weeks.  As of 22 August 2021, a total
 As of 2 August 2021, 11,840,504 individuals of 4,619,976,274 vaccine doses have been
have received their first dose of COVID-19 administered.
 vaccine.
 Bed occupancy nationwide is at 53.5%
Region Bed Occupancy (%)
Ilocos Region 60.3%
Western Visayas 59.2%
Central Visayas 59.1%
CAR 51.8%
Northern Mindanao 57.7%
NCR 51.2%
 The Philippines remains in Stage 2, localized
community transmission with some
geographic areas showing higher transmission
intensity and indications of widespread
community transmission.
 A major increase in the number of cases was
detected in Region I, Region II and Region X.
 High mobility trends are seen in Region III,
Region IV-A, Region VIII and Region XIII.
 An increasing trend on ICU and total bed
utilization is seen in certain areas of the
Regions I, II, III, VI, VIII, XIII and NCR.
 In terms of the overall situation of the
Philippines, there were 49,237 new cases (44.7
cases per 100,000 population) reported in week
30, that is 22% higher than the previous week.
Strategic approach to COVID-19 Prevention,
Detection and Control
Health Service Delivery
 WHO Philippines continuously provides
technical assistance to the Department of Health
(DOH) as it guides the local government units
and health facilities in strengthening their
COVID-19 surge response plan considering
several factors such as space/structure, staff,
supplies and system.
 Strict adherence to the mandated facility bed
allocation and COVID-19 care pathways is
critical to ensure that adequate numbers of
dedicated beds are available.
 Severely affected patients requiring oxygen
treatment need to be admitted to hospitals, while
asymptomatic or non-severe patients may be
primarily treated outside of hospitals.
 Emphasizes the importance of timely
submission of accurate and up-to-date hospital
data, including regular updating in the OHCC
 The global number of new cases has been
increasing for the last two months, with over 4.4
million cases reported in the past week (9 – 15
August 2021. This increasing trend is largely
attributed to increases in the Western Pacific
Region and the Region of the Americas which
reported 14% and 8% increases respectively as
compared to the previous week.
 The regions with the highest weekly incidence
rates of cases and deaths per 100 000
population remain the same as last week: the
Region of the Americas and the European
Region reported the highest weekly case (147.4
and 121.6 new cases per 100 000 population,
respectively) and death incidence (2.0 and 1.1
new deaths per 100 000 population,
respectively).
 The highest numbers of new cases in the past
week were reported by the United States of
America (883 996 new cases; 9% increase),
the Islamic Republic of Iran (269 975 new
cases, 9% increase), and India (258 121 new
cases; 7% decrease.
 The highest numbers of new deaths in the
past week were reported by Indonesia (10
492 new cases; 8% decrease), Brazil (6100
new cases, 3% decrease) and the Russian
Federation (5618 new cases; a 2% increase).
Strategic approach to COVID-19 Prevention,
Detection and Control
Key Activities
1. Strengthen global capacity at country and regional
levels to prevent, detect, and respond to COVID-19
cases, including ensuring timely and accurate data to
inform public health decision-making and
strengthening the public health workforce globally.
 Increase capacity to detect, investigate, report,
and respond to COVID-19 transmission.
 Improve coordination and management of the
COVID-19 response through a One Health
approach that strengthens preparedness activities
across human, animal, and environmental health
sectors.
2. Prevent and mitigate COVID-19 transmission
across borders, in the community, in healthcare
 module and submission of inventories of
supplies and medicines.
 The National Telecommunication Commission
has granted OHCC the requested hotline
numbers to ease the communication as it aims to
provide linkages to existing DOH health-related
services through telemedicine consultation and
financial support through the Malasakit Program
Office.
Laboratory and Testing
 Eight recently licensed molecular laboratories
have been added to the COVID-19 laboratory
network. The network now has a total of 268
testing laboratories.
 The WHO Country Office will continue to
support RITM in its implementation to ensure
that all DOH-licensed COVID-19 PCR testing
laboratories provide accurate and reliable
results and reduce the risk of errors.
 DOH Epidemiology Bureau (EB) uses
retrospective and targeted sampling for the
selection of samples to be subjected to genome
sequencing. There were new 97 Delta variant
cases, 83 Alpha variant cases, 127 Beta variant
cases, and 22 P.3 variant cases detected.
facilities, and among healthcare workers, including
approaches to minimize disruptions to essential
health services.
 Mitigate COVID-19 transmission in
communities.
 Support critical needs of healthcare facilities,
healthcare workers, and public health personnel
and minimize disruptions to essential health
services.
3. Contribute to the scientific understanding of
COVID-19 and address crucial unknowns regarding
clinical severity, modes of transmission, and duration
of immunity following infection and/or vaccination,
through support of special investigations.
4. Strengthen national and global readiness to
implement and evaluate vaccination programs and
use of therapeutics when available.

Surveillance and Contact Tracing

Event-based Surveillance
 The Philippine travel ban was extended to
travelers from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri
Lanka, Nepal United Arab Emirates and Oman.
Travel restrictions were also imposed on all
travelers coming from Malaysia and Thailand or
those with travel history in Malaysia and
Thailand in the fourteen days prior to their
arrival in the Philippines.
• From 15 May to 7 July, 84 out of more than
2,700 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs)
arriving from the United Arab Emirates in the
Philippines tested positive onboard repatriation
flights.

Contact Tracing Management

 The WHO Country has provided support to the
City Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit
(CESU) in familiarizing the Baguio City team
with the TKC platform and in testing the CTM
Digital Solutions in Baguio City.
Risk Communication and Community
Engagement
• The WHO Country Office has increased media
engagement around vaccinating senior citizens
(Priority Group A2), including the nation-wide
dissemination of a press release, which resulted
in strong media coverage.

Vaccines
 As of 2 August 2021, a total of 21,210,129
doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been
administered either as first or second dose. Out
of these, 11,840,504 eligible individuals have
received their 1st dose, of which 9,369,625
eligible individuals have received their 2nd
dose.
 There were 1,597,315 frontline healthcare
workers, or 97.4% of the 1,639,714 master listed
eligible Priority Group A1 population, who were
partially vaccinated and 1,389,449 health care
workers, or 84.7% of the Priority Group A1
population, who were fully vaccinated.

Surigao Health Care Situation

- Surigao del Norte has recorded a total of 1913 Covid-19 cases with separate 973 cases in
Surigao City.
- Surigao del Norte and Surigao City had 251 active cases, with 103 Covid-19 related deaths
since last year.
- Surigao City leads the vaccination roll-out in the entire Caraga region.
- Surigao City ranks first among the top number 3 cities and municipalities in the Caraga
Region. This is part of the utilization rate of fully vaccinated individuals under the A2 category
from August 8 to the 15th of this year.
- Surigao City has a 13.13% increase in the utilization rate of fully vaccinated individuals,
followed by Bislig City which is at 7.83%. While Butuan City is at 5.99%.
- At the municipal level, Loreto in Dinagat province had the first 31.09% and was followed by
Sison town in Surigao del Norte with 31.08% and Carmen, Agusan del Norte with 29.43%. .

2. With reference to both reports, are the health measures currently implemented
locally and globally, effective towards winning the battle against COVID19?

When the pandemic struck, the world stopped and was seemingly put inside a tunnel, but it didn’t keep
the virus from infecting the cities within countries until it reached at such an alarming rate. We all know
that our end goal as one world is to put a stop to this pandemic, but it cannot happen overnight because of
how extensive the damage it has caused, so we have to fight it step-by-step and we have to do it fast. Our
plan now is to contain/control the virus. With the health measures currently implemented locally and
globally, I believe that it can be effective towards winning the battle against COVID 19. It’s just that
every country has a different approach to battling it because not all have the same resources. Especially
for a third world country like the Philippines where the most of the population are in the working class,
we need to have movement or else, we will not die from COVID19 but from starvation. This movement
obviously has a great effect and contribution to the transmission of the virus. Which may also fall to the
people’s discipline within a community. We can’t blame the need for people to work just so they can feed
their family. Unlike the country New Zealand who automatically ordered a lockdown just because of a
case, it cannot be done here in the Philippines for it may risk our economy for instability. That is why, the
government is exhausting every aid that they can get to help us get by these trying times. If we look at the
number of vaccines that have been administered already, this is a great indication that the government is
working and the people are listening and cooperating. If we also look at the charts provided, the status for
each country is fluctuating, but the good thing is it does not skyrocket anymore. For the Philippines to
have a daily average cumulative positivity rate of 12.6%, we should also emphasize the need for mass
testing, so we would have a proactive approach in treating patients. I have hope for these health measures
to work. We just need more ideas and more time. We’ve come this far already. We’ll just have to keep
going and see where this tunnel ends.