OCTA expert to public: Don't be complacent to sustain decline in COVID-19 cases
While there were indications that the number of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Metro Manila is declining, an expert studying the pandemic in the country urged the public not to let their guard down yet as the average number of daily cases remained high.
OCTA Research fellow Professor Guido David said the reproduction number of COVID-19 in the National Capital Region (NCR) was at 0.83 as of the previous week, while the daily average of cases in the region was at 3,144 cases, as of May 1.
Although the number of cases is decreasing, David said in a DZBB interview Sunday, May 2, the figure is still high.
“So ibig sabihin kahit pababa siya, marami pa rin ‘yung bilang ng kaso kaya hindi pa panahon para maging kampante tayo at hindi na mag ingat (So it means that even it’s going down, there are still a lot of cases so it is not yet time for us to be complacent and careless),” he said.
“In fact, dapat ngayon mas lalo tayong mag ingat para tuluyan nating mapababa ‘yung bilang ng kaso (we must be more careful now so that we can further reduce the number of cases),” he added.
The expert said that the effects of the extended modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) currently imposes in areas within NCR-plus may be felt in the next two weeks.
He explained that there is a two-week delay before the full effects of the restrictions can be observed.