The slight uptick in Covid-19 cases in Metro Manila was most likely caused by new Omicron subvariants that were detected in the country, an expert of the OCTA Research Group said on Monday, May 23.
“Itong nakikita natin na mga upticks ng cases, maliit pa lang sa ngayon, tingin natin dala ito ng subvariant na mas nakakahawa kaysa dun sa dati (We think these upticks in cases that we are seeing, although not that much yet, may have been caused by a Covid subvariant that is more contagious than before),” OCTA fellow Dr. Guido David said in a televised briefing.
Based on OCTA’s latest monitoring, Covid infections in Metro Manila have increased by 8 percent over the past week.
David said that OCTA will continue to monitor the situation over the next few weeks to see if the Omicron subvariants will cause a sustained increase in cases, after the Department of Health confirmed the presence of subvariants BA.2.12.1 and BA.4 in the country.
“Kahit magkaroon tayo ng surge sa BA.4, dahil malakas pa yung wall of immunity natin, a few thousand cases lang ang nakikita natin. Baka umabot lang ng 5,000 at most. Magugulat na ako kung umabot ng 10,000 . Sa tingin ko hindi na lalagpas dun (Even if we have a surge in BA.4, because our wall of immunity is still strong, we only see a few thousand cases. Maybe only 5,000 cases utmost. I would be surprised if it will reach 10,000 cases. I don’t think it will go beyond that),” he said.
David noted that Metro Manila remains under “low risk” classification for Covid-19.
“We’re monitoring some areas, but none is alarming yet,” he added.
“Meron pa tayong wall of immunity pero may nakakalusot na konting infections, mga breakthrough. Yun yung nakikita nating upticks. So far, konti pa lang (We still have a wall of immunity but there are a few infections, breakthroughs. Those are the upticks that we are seeing. So far, there are only a little),” he pointed out.
David urged the public to continue to follow minimum public health protocols, while those who have not yet been vaccinated should be vaccinated or boosted against Covid-19.
“Malaking maitutulong ng 2nd booster shot kasi tataas ang level of immunity at mapapababa ang bilang ng kaso (The 2nd booster shot will help a lot because it will increase the level of immunity and reduce the number of cases),” he said.
“Para maging mild ang mga kaso na ito dapat patuloy tayo magpabakuna at magpabooster (To keep these cases mild we must continue to vaccinate and boost against Covid),” he added.