Metro Manila’s active COVID-19 cases seen to double by Feb. 15

MANILA, Philippines — The number of active COVID-19 cases in Metro Manila may double by February 15 amid the community transmission of the Omicron variant in the region, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said Saturday.

According to Vergeire, Metro Manila now records an average of 17,124 new COVID-19 cases per day,  from just 6,500 in the previous week.

Metro Manila has 147,459 active cases of COVID-19 as of Friday, based on the tracker of the Department of Health (DOH).

Vergeire said that COVID-19 cases in the region are projected to further increase.

“We are not seeing the peak of the cases yet. We are still yet to see the peak na baka mangyari sa dulo ng buwan na ito (that may happen at the end of the month) or even later, about the second week of February,” she said at the Laging Handa public briefing.

“Nakikita natin na maaari pang magdoble ang numero ng active cases natin compared to today by that time of February 15,” she added.

(We are seeing that active cases may double compared to today by February 15.)

According to Vergeire, the DOH is seeing a community transmission of the Omicron variant in Metro Manila, noting that the agency has already determined that there are already local cases of Omicron and that the trend of infections in the region show the characteristics of the said variant.

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