Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, December 27) — The uptick in reproduction rate in Metro Manila will not lead to hard lockdowns as more Filipinos secure their COVID-19 shots, an expert said Monday.
In a virtual briefing, Guido David of OCTA Research said there is no reason as yet to impose stricter restrictions in the capital region, adding that the rise in the reproduction number could have been driven by social gatherings during the holidays.
The reproduction rate in the region is now at 0.85, doubled from last week’s 0.42.
READ: OCTA flags ‘slightly concerning’ increase in NCR positivity rate, reproduction number
“It could just be a holiday uptick,” he said, saying the number of cases and positivity rate would eventually go down.
The small increase in cases, he added, is “expected” as this had been also observed in December 2020.
David said the situation is not yet “alarming”, noting the public will see a clearer picture by January.
“I don’t think babalik tayo sa panahon na kailangang mag-lockdown dahil marami na tayong bakunado sa NCR (National Capital Region) and many of the metropolitan areas,” David added.
[Translation: I don’t think we will go back to the time when we have to lockdown because NCR and many of the metropolitan areas have high vaccine coverage.]
The whole country is under Alert Level 2 until the end of this year. The pandemic response task force also assesses areas by their COVID-19 vaccination coverage before imposing a new alert level.
Metro Manila has the highest vaccination coverage, having administered at least one shot to over 100% of its target population.
Meanwhile, in a separate briefing, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the increase is “not significant yet”.
“But it is an alarm, it is a warning for all of us that cases might start to increase so kailangan magtulong-tulong tayo lahat ngayon (so we all need to work together now),” she said.
