By NewsDesk  @infectiousdiseasenews

The Department of Health (DOH) in the Philippines saw more 20,755 new confirmed COVID-19 cases Sunday. No deaths were reported today due to technical issues in the COVID-Kaya system.

Image by Alexandra_Koch from Pixabay

Future days backlogs of deaths will be seen with a sudden increase in reported deaths.

2,490,858 infections have been reported since the start of the pandemic last year, including 37,405 deaths.

While COVID-19 vaccines are steadily available in the country, health officials are expressing concern about the lower turnout, a turnout lower than what the government wants.

Data from the National Task Force (NTF) Against Covid-19 showed that of the fully vaccinated individuals nationwide as of September 24, a total of 2,242,931 are healthcare workers (A1); 433,396, senior citizens (A2); 6,282,480 adults with comorbidities (A3); 5,307,222, essential front-liners (A4); and 1,770,301, indigents (A5).

Among the first-dose recipients are 2,533,544 from A1; 3,522,588, A2; 5,8847,346, A3; 8,895,442, A4; and 2,718,947, A5.

“Despite opening the vaccination program to this priority group (A2) in April, the turnout has remained low compared to the NTF’s earlier projections,” NTF chief Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. said.

There is a need to address vaccine hesitancy as there are emerging variants of the coronavirus disease that will pose threats to the country’s economic recovery, he added.