MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) warns that active COVID-19 cases in the country may shoot up again in December if Filipinos will let their guard down and become complacent in
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire, citing projections by the DOH’s disease surveillance team, said active cases might reach 52,393 next month if safety measures against COVID-19 were ignored and pandemic response, specifically the detection and isolation of cases, would slow down.
Director Alethea de Guzman of the DOH’s epidemiology bureau earlier said the “assumptions used to create scenarios” in COVID-19 case projections were: mobility, adherence to minimum public health standards, health system capacity and vaccination coverage. Vergeire, however, clarified during the briefing that the daily death count did not reflect the actual number of fatalities recorded per day because data from the local governments had to be validated first before they could be included in the case bulletin.She said that the country was now averaging 10 deaths a day compared to 193 deaths a day in September. The positivity rate dipped to 5.6 percent, now closer to the below 5 percent recommended by the World Health Organization.
Curfew was lifted in Metro Manila starting Nov. 4 but some local governments continued to impose it only on minors, with their city or municipal ordinances as legal basis. This allowed cinemas, theaters, theme parks, swimming pools, libraries, museums and other tourist attractions, as well as venues for social gatherings to open for the first time in more than a year. It also allowed an increase in the operating capacities of businesses like restaurants and personal care establishments.Under alert level 2, there is also no age-based mobility restrictions in Metro Manila.
Eleazar said he had directed chiefs of police to identify areas where people tend to converge so they could plan accordingly.Also on Saturday, Eleazar directed all police regional offices outside Metro Manila to prepare for the nationwide enforcement of the five-level alert level system starting Dec. 1, as announced by the DOH.
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