Daily Covid-19 cases may increase to nearly 2,300 by end of December—DOH

Covid-19 cases per day in the country may increase to close to 2,300 by the end of December, based on the latest projection of the Department of Health (DOH).
“If our MPHS (minimum public health standards) compliance further decreases, our daily cases will probably range from 1,114 to as high as 2,294 by the end of December,” said DOH Epidemiology Bureau Director Dr. Alethea de Guzman in a media forum on Tuesday, Nov. 29.
De Guzman said that the decrease in compliance to MPHS can be attributed to the holiday season, wherein people are expected to have more interaction and less physical distance.
However, if the people’s compliance to MPHS “remain the same,” the number of cases may further decrease to fewer than 500 per day.
“You may see numbers totaling to just around 429 by December of 2022,” said De Guzman.
Based on the DOH data, the country’s average number of cases daily was at 1,147 for the period of Nov. 21 to 27.
Currently, the hospital admissions remain at low-levels even with the detection of new variants of coronavirus, said De Guzman.
“Even with the detection of these new variants, there is no significant increase in our hospitalizations—whether it's the total ICU and severe and critical admissions. hindi tayo nakakakita ng malaking pagtaas ng ating mga admissions (We are not seeing an increase in admissions). It has not reached the numbers of Alpha, Beta, Delta, or Omicron,” she said.
De Guzman said that the possible increase in cases can be avoided if more people will get vaccinated and boosted against Covid-19.
“These are actually outcomes that we can prevent, we can prevent that by increasing our vaccinations,” she said.
“We are really focused on vaccination. Again, we need to maintain that high immunity wall not just for ourselves, the reminder is not for me alone or you alone but it’s for your family, it's for your circles to ensure that everyone has that high protection,” she added.
Infectious disease expert Dr. Edsel Salvana also echoed the importance of vaccination and masking.
“Deaths and healthcare utilization will remain low as long as the wall of immunity is maintained,” he said.
“Masks and vaccines continue to protect us,” he added.