Philippines: Covid-19 infections spikes 39%, dengue jumps 90%

Newly-elected President Ferdinand Marcos Jr is facing a health crisis already as a dual spike in Covid-19 and dengue fever infections threaten the well-being of the Philippines. Covid infections are steadily rising now, but concurrently, the country has seen a 90% spike in dengue fever infections.

The amount of new coronavirus infections has jumped 39% week over week with the week ending on July 10 reaching nearly 1,500 new patients each day on average. This is a significant jump for the Philippines where daily Covid infection rates have not risen above 1,000 per day since early March. Luckily, the hospitalisation figures are far lower than peak pandemic numbers, and the beds in intensive care units in hospitals and medical facilities are still 83% unoccupied.

The spike included one noteworthy new Covid infection – President Marcos himself caught the virus and has been in isolation while recovering from his infection.

Meanwhile, dengue cases have skyrocketed year over year by 90%, with over 65,000 people reporting infections in the first half of this year, much much higher than the figures for the first half of last year.

The swell in both dengue and Covid infection rates has created a rocky start to the controversial figure’s presidency after being sworn in less than two weeks ago. He has not yet even appointed a health secretary to address these infection rates.

Marcos Jr plans to protect the regrowth of the economy, which, like most countries, is struggling to recover from the global pandemic, and has vowed not to impose any national or widespread lockdowns. But he did declare an ambitious plan to fix previous faults in the Philippines’ handling of coronavirus and to vastly increase access to vaccination.

SOURCE: Bangkok Post