MANILA, Philippines — The rise of COVID-19 cases in Metro Manila appeared to have peaked already as the number of infections has been declining in the past few days, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said on Monday.
“Lumalabas nag-peak na. Nakikita natin na ilang araw nang sunod-sunod na bumababa ang kaso sa NCR at lumiliit ang porsyentong inaambag nito sa ating total caseload,” he said in a Laging Handa public briefing.
(It appears that it has peaked already. The cases are declining in the past days and the number of cases the region contributes to the total caseload is decreasing.)
However, Duque cannot say yet whether Metro Manila can already be deescalated to a less stricter Alert Level 2, citing the metrics that the government’s pandemic task force still had to follow, such as the two-week growth rate, average daily attack rate, and healthcare utilization rate.
The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases will meet on Thursday to discuss the alert levels placed in the country.
“Baka pag-usapan ‘yan kung pwede nang magbaba to Alert Level 2 pero that is not yet cast in stone because we will still need to review the metrics,” Duque said.
Metro Manila has been placed under Alert Level 3 until Jan. 31.
The Philippines has so far logged 3,417,216 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 273,580 active cases, 3,090,164 recoveries and 53,472 deaths.