Uptick in Covid-19 cases still possible following election-related gatherings, says health expert

The Philippines could still see a rise in Covid-19 infections following the conduct of the national and local elections and other related activities recently, a health expert said.

“That’s a possibility” said infectious disease expert Dr. Rontgene Solante because of the large gatherings related to the elections.

“Well, sa ngayon, hindi pa natin alam kung ano ang mangyayari in the next two weeks kasi sa dami ng mga superspreader event na nangyayari for the past two weeks at mayroon pa ring community transmission ng Omicron variant na napakataas ang hawaan (so far, we don't know what will happen in the next two weeks because of the number of superspreader events that had happened for the past two weeks and there is still community transmission of the Omicron variant which is linked with high transmissibility),” he said during a public briefing on Wednesday, May 11.

Solante said that the rise in Covid-19 cases may reflect in the coming weeks.

“Kung titingnan natin iyong incubation period ng Covid infection, so iyong from the exposure to the first symptoms, usually an average of three to five days (If we look at the incubation period of Covid infection—from exposure to the first symptoms—usually that's an average of three to five days),” he said.

“So kung halimbawa, lahat ay mataas ang exposure noong May 9, magbilang tayo ng mga seven days or five to seven days, so magri-reflect iyan most likely next week (For example, if people were exposed on May 9, let's count at least five to seven days, so that will most likely reflect next week),” he added.

On Tuesday, May 10, the Department of Health (DOH) said that the country remains under the minimal-risk case classification for Covid-19. It reported that the Philippines' daily number of cases continues to decline.