Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 24) — It may take a few more months before the Omicron surge in the country tapers off despite declining cases in the Metro Manila, an independent research group said on Monday, citing developments in the regions.
Related: Omicron surge has peaked in Metro Manila, DOH chief says
“Medyo matatagalan ang Omicron wave. Kahit medyo bumababa na sa NCR (National Capital Region) at Cavite, Rizal, pataas pa lang sa ibang lugar at may ibang lugar na hindi pa nagkakaroon ng pagtaas. Medyo matatagalan ito. Ang 1,000 cases or less per day ay medyo matatagalan din,” OCTA Research fellow Guido David said in a media briefing.
[Translation: The Omicron wave will continue. Even if cases are going down in NCR, Cavite, and Rizal, it is only starting in other areas. The increase hasn’t even started in other parts of the country. It will take a while. It will take us a while to gown down to less than 1,000 cases again.]
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the agency is monitoring the rising healthcare utilization rate in the regions, in particular the Cordillera Administrative Region and Eastern Visayas.
“We can see that all regions of the country have this increasing number of cases. It’s just the NCR because we started earlier, but right now, all regions, we have about 13 areas at critical risk classification and there are only 4 areas with high risk classification in the country. We are closely monitoring specific areas because their healthcare utilization is really increasing,” she told CNN Philippines’ The Source.
David said arriving at daily cases only by the hundres similar to December 2020 may be achieved if the Omicron surge ends in March or April.
OCTA said Metro Manila’s COVID-19 situation in terms of new cases began to improve in mid-January, with a substantial decline in cases from 18,000 to around 5,000 per day. He added that the capital region is on track to meet OCTA’s projection of only 1,000 infections per day by Valentine’s Day.
