Health Secretary Francisco Duque III. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
MANILA, Philippines — The slight increase in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases in the country can be attributed to the recent typhoons and the approaching Christmas holidays, Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Francisco Duque III said Monday.
The OCTA Research Group earlier warned of the ill effects of social gatherings after it observed a small increase in COVID-19 cases recorded in November.
New COVID-19 infections surpassed the 2,000 mark on Sunday, after over two weeks of less than 2,000 new cases a day.
“‘Yung pagtaas, puwede nating maattribute yan o ang kadahilanan niyan ay unang una, nagdaan itong dalawang malakas na bagyo, actually hindi lang si Typhoon Rolly, Typhoon Quinta nagumpisa na tayo, Typhoon Rolly, Typhoon Ulysses,” Duque said in a televised briefing.
(The increase can be attributed to, first, the recent typhoons, not just Typhoon Rolly, it started with Typhoon Quinta followed by Typhoon Rolly then Typhoon Ulysses.)
“‘Yung mga sa evacuation centers natin ay posibleng naging dahilan din yan sa kaunting pagtaas ng kaso,” he added.
(Our evacuation centers could be a possible reason for the slight increase in the number of cases.)
Typhoons Quinta, Rolly and Ulysses whipped Luzon and caused massive flooding and damage to infrastructure and agriculture from late October to early November this year.
Apart from the recent typhoons, however, Duque said the slight increase can likewise be attributed to the nearing holidays.
“At syempre, itong pagsalubong ng kapaskuhan at nasa GCQ [general community quarantine] tayo, ‘yung mga tao ay muling lumaki ang bilang ng lumalabas at nakikihalubilo, minsan nakakalimutan ang pagsunod sa minimum health standards,” Duque said.
(And of course, as we greet the holidays while we’re under GCQ, more people go out to mingle. And sometimes, they forget to follow the minimum health standards.)
The Philippines has so far recorded 429,864 COVID-19 cases with 8,373 fatalities and 398,624 recoveries.