Metro Manila COVID-19 cases could return to pre-surge level by end-February -- OCTA

The OCTA Research Group is hoping that the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases in Metro Manila will continue their downtrend and return to the pre-surge level by the end of February.
Citing the data from the Department of Health, OCTA fellow Dr. Guido David said Metro Manila had 877 new cases on Saturday, Feb. 5, which was only 11 percent of the country's total.
"Actuals are back below Jan. 20 projections, which means prospects look good for less than 500 in the NCR by V-Day , and perhaps pre-surge numbers by end of February," David said in a tweet late Saturday evening.
The OCTA fellow also expressed hope that the country could see less than 5,000 daily COVID-19 cases this week.
The Philippines on Saturday recorded 7,689 new cases, bringing the country's running tally of confirmed cases to 3,601,471.
Meanwhile, in a Teleradyo interview on Sunday, Feb. 6, David noted that almost all provinces in the country are seeing a downtrend in the daily recorded COVID-19 cases, with only a few provinces that have reported positive growth rates.
"Maybe less than five , at maliit lang ito. So ibig sabihin, nag-peak na sila (Maybe less than five provinces, it's just a few provinces. It means cases in most provinces have already reached their peak)," David said.
In a forum on Jan. 21, David explained that the peak is not yet the end of the pandemic wave but "determining the peak allows us to estimate the timeline of the wave and when cases will return to normal levels."