An OCTA Research expert is expecting a “gradual increase in cases per day” in the country in the coming weeks.
In an interview with CNN Philippines Monday night, Fr. Nicanor Austriaco said the impacts of the holiday season on the country’s COVID-19 numbers will only begin to show this week.
“This week will be the first time we’ll see the impact of the holidays,” Austriaco said.
The effect of the Feast of the Black Nazarene will be seen after a week or two, according to Austriaco.
On Monday, the Department of Health recorded 2,052 new COVID-19 cases. It was the first time the country surpassed the 2,000 mark since Dec. 18.
“We recorded 2,000 today . Now the question is whether or not we will be witnessing 2,000 on a regular basis over the next few days,” the OCTA research fellow said.
Austriaco said the OCTA research team also expects a “gradual increase” in the country’s COVID-19 reproduction rate throughout January.
“Based on the projections that we made in December, we anticipate that R0 (R-naught) is going to be gradually increasing through January,” he said.
As of Monday, Jan. 11, Austriaco said the country’s R-naught (R0) is “already about 1.”
“It continues to increase. I just don’t know how fast R0 is going to increase,” he said.
Austriaco warned that the current number the country has recorded is half of the number of cases recorded last July when the country went into a lockdown.
"The last time we went into a lockdown at the end of July, we had 4000 cases a day. So, if we have 2,000 cases on a regular basis, we are already halfway there so we have to be particularly careful to prevent the further increase so as not to overwhelm our healthcare facilities," he said.