Rise in Covid-19 cases until December possible—DOH


DOH

The Department of Health (DOH) said there is a possibility that Covid-19 cases in the Philippines may continue to rise until December.

"Maari po talaga na magtuloy-tuloy ang pagtaas ng kaso ng Covid-19 dito sa ating bansa even way through this October, November, and December," said DOH Officer-in-Charge Maria Rosario Vergeire on Tuesday, Aug. 9.

Metro Manila may see more than 10,000 Covid-19 cases by October, said Vergeire, citing the recent projection of Australian Tuberculosis Modeling Network (Autumn).

"Meron tayong Autumn projections.Yung Autumn projections po natin, we can have as high as 10,612 cases of Covid-19 dito palang sa National Capital Region by the first week of October," she said.

Vergeire said that these projections were based on various assumptions such as low booster shot coverage, low compliance in minimum public health standards, mobility of people, and entry of Covid-19 virus variants.

"Pero syempre, ito po ay projections. These are projections based on assumptions," she said.

“Maaring mangyari ang mga projections na ito, but hopefully not because we have control over two of these assumptions and that would be the uptake of boosters and compliance to minimum public health standards,” she said.

On Tuesday, a total of 2,618 new Covid-19 cases were logged, based on the DOH Covid-19 tracker.

These new cases brought the number of active infections across the country to 36,666.

Since 2020, the Philippines has already recorded 3,810,772 cases, including 3,713, 242 recoveries, and 60,864 deaths.