(FILE) Health Secretary Francisco Duque III gives an update to President Rodrigo Roa Duterte during a meeting with the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) core members at the Arcadia Active Lifestyle Center in Matina, Davao City on August 30, 2021. JOEY DALUMPINES/ PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines may encounter a fresh wave of COVID-19 infections like what happened in other countries if the public will reduce compliance to public health standards, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said on Thursday.
“It is very possible if we let our MHPS (minimum health public standards) guard down in the midst of increasing social mobility due to opening up of bigger segments of the economy and other sectors in regions under alert level 2,” he told INQUIRER.net in a text message when asked on the possibility that the Philippines may encounter another surge of COVID-19 infections.
On Wednesday, the health ministry of France confirmed that they are at the beginning of a fifth wave of COVID-19 cases, noting that the situation is the same in several neighboring countries.
The Philippines currently has more than 28,000 active cases of COVID, including 1,974 additional coronavirus infections reported on Thursday.
The number of new COVID-19 cases per day in November is much lower than the cases in September, which even went up to over 20,000 amid the presence of the highly transmissible Delta variant of coronavirus.
The Department of Health earlier warned that the country’s active COVID-19 cases may reach up to 52,000 by December 15 if there will be increased mobility, decreased adherence to health protocols, and slower interval between case detection and isolation.
But if the current mobility level and the interval between detection to isolation is maintained, and the public continues to follow health protocols, the country may only have around 2,100 active cases by the said date.
Globally, COVID-19 cases have surpassed 250 million on Monday as some countries in eastern Europe suffer record outbreaks.