Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 12) — The Philippines may record growth in COVID-19 cases among children, a health expert warned. This, as the country reported over 4,500 cases of the virus on Friday—its highest number since September 14.
Dr. Anna Ong-Lim of the Department of Health-technical advisory group told CNN Philippines’ News Night that while they have not seen an “exponential increase” in cases among kids yet, the current situation is alarming.
“You have to consider, if you have more cases in the community, it is not very far-off that you will have more kids… being affected as well,” she said, adding older people are also at risk.
“Families are being infected, and our families are really multigenerational,” Dr. Ong-Lim said.
In its bulletin issued Friday, the DOH said the Philippines logged 4,578 newly infected patients, bringing the total number to 611,618 with 8.5% or 52,012 active or currently sick patients.
READ: 4,578 new COVID-19 cases logged in PH as tally surges past 611,000
Dr. Ong-Lim said the spike in COVID-19 cases should serve as a “wake up call for everybody to try to do their best to contribute towards containing this new increase in cases.”
“It’s hard to say that the major driver is due to the new variants. When we look at people going around, we do notice that many people have become quite relaxed in the use of their personal protective equipment, face mask, face shield. I’m sure this is also contributing to our problem,” Dr. Ong-Lim added.
