Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire
MANILA – It is too early to say that the number of new Covid-19 infections in the National Capital Region (NCR) is on a decline, a health official said Tuesday.
In a television interview, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire declined to validate the claim of OCTA Research Group over the weekend that infections in the region seemed to be slowing down following the decrease in the growth rate of fresh cases.
The OCTA Research Group reported that NCR’s growth rate is now -7 percent from Sunday’s -1 percent.
Vergeire said the difference in daily data may be subject to some variables, like submissions of laboratories. The Department of Health studies the difference in data on a weekly basis.
“Kapag tiningnan natin, talaga namang nakikita natin na medyo may pagbagal na dahil noong nag-umpisa po tayo ng sitwasyon sa Omicron, ang ating case doubling time was just at two days, ibig sabihin mabilis ang pagdami ng kaso (If we look at the data, we see that there is a slight decrease in the transmission. Our case doubling time was just two days when the Omicron situation started),” she said.
The current case doubling time in the NCR is four days.
On the other hand, Vergeire said the fresh cases reported daily are still high, which means continuous caution and interventions are still needed to prevent the rise in cases.
“So, it is still very early to say and conclude that cases are declining already,” she added.
The NCR logged 13,543 cases on Monday -- lower than Sunday’s 15,959 and Saturday’s 18,422. (PNA)
