MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Health (DOH) said on Wednesday, January 5, that the fresh surge in COVID-19 cases believed to be driven by the highly transmissible Omicron variant could peak by the end of January.

“We are projecting that this Omicron variant, because we assumed that this in is our communities already, cases will continue to rise and it may peak the end of the month,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a mix of English and Filipino during an interview with DZMM’s TeleRadyo.

The health spokesperson said that cases will continue to double every day. “Ang projections po natin kapag tinitingnan natin sa pang araw araw ay nag dodoble po ang mga kaso natin,” she said. (Our projections, if we base it from our daily tallies, continue to double.)

On Tuesday, January 5, the DOH reported 5,434 new infections, bringing total cases to 2,861,119. Tuesday’s cases were the highest since October 29, when a total of 7,482 cases were reported in two separate advisories, or since October 23, when 5,807 cases were reported in the bulletin for that day.

Octa Research fellow Guido David said that cases could hit around 10,000 to 12,000 on Wednesday.

Data from DOH monitored by Rappler also showed that positivity rate in the country has jumped to 30.79%, way above than the World Health Organization’s 5% benchmark. This is also the highest since September 7, 2021, when 29.52% was recorded. The positivity rate is the percentage of all COVID-19 tests performed that turn out positive.

The spike in cases comes as the Philippines recorded a total of 14 cases of the Omicron variant, with three of these as local cases. Experts have said that Omicron is the most transmissible coronavirus variant, so far.

The DOH earlier said there is a “high possibility” of local transmission of Omicron in the country.

In a Rappler Talk interview on December 31, infectious disease specialist Dr. Rontgene Solante said that “most likely,” the Philippines is already experiencing an Omicron-driven surge. He said one Omicron case can infect up to 16 people. Delta can only infect up to 8.

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– Rappler.com