MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines may see an increase in coronavirus infections as the holiday season approaches, the group studying the COVID-19 outbreak in the country said.
The country has so far reported 388,137 COVID-19 infections nine months since a case was first reported. The Department of Health earlier said the overall number of new cases dropped by 25%. From 2,517 three to four weeks ago, the average number of daily cases declined to 1,887 in the last two weeks.
“Overall, the trend in the entire country is good,” Guido David, a member of the OCTA Research Group, told ABS-CBN’s Teleradyo. Although, the decrease in cases may be also partly due to the temporary halt of Philippine Red Cross' testing and disruption in laboratory operations due to typhoons.
But he warned against complacency especially as the holidays near.
“We’re aware that as the holiday season approaches, people are experiencing [pandemic] fatigue and they want to go outside. It’s possible to see an uptick [in cases] but the important thing is we should respond quickly so it will not get worse and there will be no surge,” David said in a mix of English and Filipinos.
He urged the public to maintain the downward trend of COVID-19 cases by strictly following health protocols such as wearing of face masks and shields and observing physical distance—measures that are critical in curbing the spread of the virus.
The OCTA Research Group also supports the decision of Metro Manila mayors to keep the general community quarantine status over the capital region until the end of the year.
“We want balance to control crowding in malls and public places,” David said.
The DOH earlier said it is hoping that Philippines would be able to transition to modified GCQ—the lowest form of community quarantine—by the first quarter of 2021.
Outbreak epicenter Metro Manila, Batangas, Iloilo City, Bacolod City, Iligan City and Lanao del Sur are under GCQ until end-November. Meanwhile, the rest of the country is under MGCQ.