(PNA photo by Robert Alfiler)
MANILA – The OCTA Research Group said Monday there are no threats of increase in Covid-19 cases so far to warrant a downgrade in the current alert level of Metro Manila and other areas.
In a televised public briefing, OCTA Research fellow Dr. Guido David said the country’s positivity rate is 1.1 percent and reproduction rate is 0.6 percent.
“Hindi pa siya tumataas to greater than one, so we’re still okay. Pati ‘yung hospitalization rate, mababa pa rin naman (It has not gone up to greater than one, so we’re still okay. The hospitalization rate remains low as well),” he said. "Wala naman tayong nakitang threat o area na may threat na tumataas ang kaso sa ngayon (We have not seen any threat or area with threat of increasing cases at the moment)".
Metro Manila and 85 other areas are under Alert Level 1 until May 31.
Since the campaign period started in February, the OCTA Research Group has not seen any “sustained increase” in Covid-19 cases. But there were sudden spikes that are considered small and clustering of cases.
David noted that the clustering of cases did not spread “maybe because the country's ball of immunity due to Covid-19 vaccines and natural immunity is still high”.
However, these are not definite as cases could increase few weeks after the May 9 elections and with the detection of BA.2.12.1 Omicron subvariant in Metro Manila and Palawan.
In South Africa, the detection of the highly transmissible Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 caused an increase in the average daily cases – from 1,000 to 8,000 infections per day.
“Kung kukumpara natin sa situation sa bansa, ngayon nasa 200 cases per day pa rin tayo, so, kahit tumaas pa ‘yan to 250, hindi ‘yan significant. Pero kapag makakita tayo ng pagtaas sa 500, 400, definitely, magiging concerned na tayo at baka nagkakaroon na ng pagtaas ng kaso (If we’ll compare the situation to our country, we’re still now at 200 cases per day, so, even if it increases to 250, it’s not significant. But if we see an increase to 500, 400, definitely, we’ll be concerned that there’s an increase in cases),” David said. (PNA)
