The country’s coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases may escalate to over 2,500 ahead of New Year, said the OCTA Research group.
“New COVID-19 cases in the National Capital Region (NCR) will likely continue to increase as the positivity rate hits more than 14 percent. More than 2,000 new cases is possible on Dec. 31, with more than 2,500 new cases nationwide,” said Dr. Guido David, an OCTA Research fellow in a Twitter post on Thursday evening, Dec. 30.
“Let us celebrate the coming of 2022 in a safe manner,” David reiterated, urging the public to mask up and adhere to health protocols.
David added that the rate of increase is “dramatic”, and that the public should “strictly comply” with the minimum public health standards and reduce mass gatherings as much as possible to avoid further transmission of the virus.
Meanwhile, OCTA disclosed that on Thursday, Dec. 30, the NCR alone recorded a total number of 1,092 COVID-19 infections.
The group of independent experts likewise released a list of municipalities with the highest number of COVID-19 cases on Thursday.
Among the top five municipalities were the City of Manila with 351 cases, Quezon City with 170 infections, the City of Makati with 74 new cases, Caloocan City with 66 new infections, and Taguig City with 55.
Amid the increasing number of infections, the national government placed the country under Alert Level 2 until Jan. 15, 2021. (Charie Mae F. Abarca)