MANILA, Philippines — The number of COVID-19 cases in Metro Manila could reach 1,000 per day by the end of month or early July, OCTA Research said Tuesday.
According to OCTA Research fellow Guido David, the average daily attack rate in the capital region may rise to seven cases out of 100,000 people by the end of that period.
David also projected that Metro Manila could see a peak in infections during the first two weeks of July.
“‘Yung seven-day average sa Metro Manila posibleng tumaas between 500 and 1,000 by the end of June or first week of July. So 'pag ganyan, masasabi na nating baka nasa moderate risk na ‘yung situation natin,” David said.
(The seven-day average in Metro Manila may possibly increase to between 500 and 1,000 cases by the end of June or first week of July. If that happens, we can say that our situation might be at moderate risk.)
The Department of Health said Monday that the country is seeing the start of another peak in COVID-19 cases. According to the agency, infections increased by 82% to 436 daily average cases last week from 240 the previous week.
Despite the spike in cases, a significant increase in healthcare utilization rate is not expected, the research group stressed.
“Tataas ito pero hindi ganoon kataas. We should still be okay at that level pero syempre kailangan talaga ng pag-iingat ng kababayan natin,” David said.
(The healthcare utilization rate will increase, but not that much. We should still be okay at that level, but of course, people need to be careful.)
The OCTA fellow added neighboring provinces of Cavite, Laguna and Rizal, Benguet, and Iloilo are also seeing a rise in infections.
Authorities said that the presence of highly transmissible Omicron subvariants, increased mobility, and waning vaccine immunity are driving the recent increase in COVID-19 cases.