OCTA sees record-high COVID-19 cases in Metro Manila on Thursday

File photo shows parents accompanying their children scheduled to be inoculated with Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Pasig City last year. (REUTERS)

MANILA, Philippines — Metro Manila is expected to break its new COVID-19 cases daily record  with around 10,000 to 11,000 additional infections projected this Thursday, OCTA Research said.

According to OCTA Research fellow Guido David, the positivity rate in Metro Manila further increased from the previous 40 percent to 45 percent as of January 4.

“This projects to 15,000 to 16,000 new COVID-19 cases in the Philippines on January 6, with 10,000 to 11,000 new cases in the NCR (National Capital Region). This would eclipse the previous high in the NCR of 9,031 on September 11, 2021,” David said on Twitter.

NCR expected to break records today 1.6.21 with 10k to 11k new cases, and 15 to 16k in the country. Tomorrow, the country is likely to exceed 20k new cases. @dzbb @DZAR1026 @allangatus @NewsRmn @dzrhnews pic.twitter.com/YpcBDKlosW

— Dr. Guido David (@iamguidodavid) January 5, 2022

“The surge has not peaked yet. The country is expected to exceed 20,000 new cases by January 7,” he added.

On Wednesday, the Department of Health (DOH) reported 10,775 new COVID-19 cases, the most  since October 12, 2021 when 12,159 fresh infections were logged.

With the additional coronavirus infections, the country now has 39,974 active cases , including 24,419 in Metro Manila.

The increase in infections comes as 14 cases of the highly transmissible Omicron variant of COVID-19, have so far been detected, of which 11 are imported and three are local cases.
The DOH said there is a high possibility of local transmission of the Omicron variant, following the sharp increase in COVID-19 cases.

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