Health Secretary Francisco Duque III. Screengrab from Kapihan sa Manila Bay video interview.
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) will not know until Jan. 15 whether there has been a surge in coronavirus infections in the country because of the Christmas and New Year gatherings, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said on Monday.
Even if the number of confirmed new infections has remained low, Duque said, the DOH could not conclude that the holiday season did not lead to a rise in the number of COVID-19 cases because many people put off going to the hospital for testing in the days leading to Christmas and the turn of the year.
“We will know only on Jan. 15 if the expected surge will happen or not because during this holiday season, Christmas and New Year, the health-seeking behavior of our countrymen was not like before when they more frequently saw a doctor or had laboratory tests,” Duque told a news briefing.
Warning from health experts
Health experts earlier warned of a spike in coronavirus infections because of celebrations and gatherings during the holidays. They called on the public to avoid large gatherings and to limit visits to other households while continuing to observe health measures to prevent further spread of the coronavirus.
On Monday, the DOH reported 959 additional coronavirus infections, raising the overall number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country to 478,761.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire attributed the low number of new cases to the closure of some laboratories and people’s postponing tests during the holidays.
Some laboratories have also been failing to submit results of tests on time. Vergeire said the DOH suspended a big laboratory and warned four others for not consistently reporting test results.
In Monday’s DOH report, Quezon City had the most number of new infections, 73, followed by Davao City (70), Rizal (58), Agusan del Sur province (44) and Laguna (41).
The DOH said 26 more patients had recovered, bringing the total number of COVID-19 survivors to 448,279. But the death toll rose to 9,263 with the deaths of six more patients.
The recoveries and deaths left the country with 21,219 active cases, of which 81.7 percent were mild, 7.9 percent asymptomatic, 0.57 moderate, 3.4 percent severe, and 6.4 percent critical.
Travel ban
Meanwhile, the travel ban imposed by the government on 20 countries with reported cases of the new coronavirus variant may be expanded to include Filipino migrant workers in those countries.
Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III on Monday said the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases would discuss on Thursday a proposal to bar Filipinos working in those countries from returning home.
He said the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration was “very apprehensive” that it would soon run out of accommodation for homecoming migrants because 1,000 to 3,500 of them were being repatriated daily.
Under health rules revised since the outbreak of the variant, returning migrants have to undergo quarantine for 14 days even if they have tested negative for the COVID-19 virus.
“It is very possible that the [travel ban] will also [be applied to overseas Filipino workers] considering the very [fast] transmission of the new variant,” Bello said.
About 60,000 to 70,000 migrants displaced by the pandemic are still waiting to be repatriated, he added.