It is too early to say if the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases in the Philippines have peaked already, the Department of Health (DOH) and the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday, Jan. 12.

DOH Secretary Francisco Duque III believes that the country is still in the "acceleration phase" of COVID-19 surge.

On Tuesday, the Philippines logged 28,007 cases— which was relatively lower than what was recorded in the previous days. Duque said that the “low” number of cases on Tuesday can be attributed to lower testing output.

“Premature. Kaya lang naman mababa kasi galing yan sa Sunday testing output, usually Sunday— mababa ang testing output kasi iba sarado, madami naka isolate dahil may symptoms, yung iba nag-quarantine because naexpose (Premature. That is only low because the cases came from Sunday's testing output. It is usually low on Sundays because some laboratories were close, and many health workers are either in isolation or under quarantine),” he said during the Kapihan sa Manila Bay forum.

“This is not an indication that the peak is over, we might still be in the acceleration phase of our surge,” he added.

The Health chief is hoping that the number of cases will start decreasing soon just like what happened in South Africa.

“Like what happened in South Africa, mabilis tumaas, mabilis bumaba. Four weeks lang yun (the cases went up fast, but it also went down fast. That’s only in four weeks). I hope we follow the same trend or pattern,” he said.

WHO Country Representative to the Philippines Dr. Rabindra Abeyansighe said that the public should be “careful in assessing and jumping into conclusions.”

“It’s premature to say that we’ve reached the peak. We may still see an increasing number. We are carefully looking at how it is evolving in NCR and in the other regions. At this point in time, it is difficult, too premature to assume that we have reached the peak,” he said during a public briefing on Wednesday.

“What is critically important is, we reduce the opportunity for virus transmission by following the minimum public health standards by reducing close contacts, by early isolation and quarantining if you know that you are having symptoms and you have been a close contact— so that we minimize the opportunities for virus to spread, and this maybe will be able to reduce the transmission,” he noted.

Deaths

The DOH is currently observing “better numbers” in terms of deaths being recorded compared to the time of the Delta variant surge, said Duque.

“It looks like the deaths now continue to go down, which is compared to Delta, this is a much....how should I put it....improved. Mahirap magsabi (It’s hard) when you talk about deaths....but at least the numbers are better,” he said.

“The correct way to say it is that the numbers seem to be better. Tuloy tuloy ang pagbagsak dahil mas mababa ang (It continues to go down because of low) severe to critical cases, therefore preventing...hopefully lower hospitalization and deaths and that is what we are seeing,” he added.

Alert level 4

Duque expressed hope that no area in the country will be placed under the stricter Alert Level 4.

“Alert level 4 hopefully does not happen anytime soon. But as I've said, the IATF is guided by our experts in the data analytics technical working group,” he said.

“We hope that the hospitals, and this will also depend on local government units and private hospitals, to ensure that their capacities are really truly for the severe and critical,” he added.