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Experts studying the coronavirus outbreak in the country noted an uptick in COVID-19 cases in virus epicenter Metro Manila after the holidays.
“The number of COVID-19 cases in the National Capital Region (NCR) started to increase again as the holidays [came to a] close,” the Octa Research Group said in its latest report on Saturday, January 2.
The experts said that until December 25, the average number of COVID-19 cases in the capital region was 480, with a peak of 700 recorded cases on December 18.
“From December 26, the number of new cases decreased to an average of 320, a drop of 33%,” they added.
On December 28, the Philippines logged 886 COVID-19 cases – the first time since June 27 to 29 that the total number of new cases was below 1,000 for 3 consecutive days.
The Octa team, however, attributed the decrease to closed testing centers during the holiday season, reduced testing capacity, or delays in reporting.
Testing capacity in NCR
The experts said that testing centers in NCR averaged 18,400 tests per day before the holiday season, but went down to 8,800 during the holidays.
“This leads us to expect [an] increase in the number of new COVID-19 cases in the first week of January as testing centers resume normal operations,” they explained, noting that 554 cases were reported in NCR on December 31.
On January 1, the daily reported COVID-19 cases has gone back up again to about less than 2,000 – specifically, 1,765 – similar to what was regularly logged in early December.
The positivity rate in Metro Manila remains at 5%, which is below the 10% ideal rate recommended by the World Health Organization.
The Philippine government is closely monitoring the new COVID-19 variant that is believed to be more contagious. As of Saturday, the health department said that the Philippine Genome Center has not detected the new variant that was detected in the United Kingdom.
The government has banned foreign travelers from countries that have cases of the new, fast-spreading SARS-CoV2, including the United States.
The world welcomed 2021 with a raging a pandemic that has infected over 84 million people globally. In the Philippines, a total of 475,820 COVID-19 cases have been reported as of January 1, with 9,248 deaths and 439,895 recoveries. – Rappler.com
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