OCTA: NCR could have 2,500 new Covid-19 cases daily by the end of March

MANILA, Philippines — The OCTA Research team on Saturday said it is possible that Metro Manila could have 2,500 new Covid-19 cases daily by the end of March if the trend in rising cases will not be arrested.

During the Laging Handa online press briefing, Dr. Guido David of the OCTA Research team said there was a “genuine” increase in Covid-19 cases in Metro Manila, adding that this is not connected to the past Christmas and Valentine’s season.

“It’s a genuine increase and yung rate of increase niya, yung trajectory, similar sa nakita natin sa Cebu and sa northern provinces, sa Mountain Province and sa Benguet,” he said.

(It’s a genuine increase and the rate of increase is similar to the trajectory of what we have seen in Cebu and in the northern provinces, in the Mountain Province, and in Benguet.)

“For the past two days we’ve been getting 900 cases per day sa Metro Manila. The last time we were getting 900 cases per day sa Metro Manila, October pa rin,” he added.

“This is concerning kasi kung hindi natin mapipigilan ulit ang pagtaas ng kaso, ‘yung ginawa naming projections a week or two ago, pwedeng masunod ‘yung projections. It could mean we will have mga 2,500 more cases sa Metro Manila before the end of March,” he later said.

(This is concerning because if we can’t stop the surge in cases, this means that the projections that we did a week or two ago may happen. It could mean we will have around 2,500 more cases in Metro Manila before the end of March.)

On Saturday, the Department of Health recorded 2,921 new Covid-19 cases—the highest recorded number since Oct. 16 last year, On that day,  3,132 new infections were recorded.

/MUF