Metro Manila skyline at night (File photo by JILSON SECKLER TIU / Philippine Daily Inquirer)
MANILA, Philippines — The number of new COVID-19 cases recorded in Metro Manila doubled from 2,008 on Sunday to 4,040 on Monday, Dr. Guido David, an OCTA Research fellow, said in a tweet on Monday.
4040 in the NCR today. I hope AL2 was not premature. If this is not backlog, this is a resurgence of sorts. We need to follow health protocols pic.twitter.com/OiEofcJyjy
— Dr. Guido David (@iamguidodavid) January 31, 2022
According to David, however, the jump was likely to have been by a backlog in reporting of cases — meaning not all cases are fresh infections of the virus.
“Let’s not panic in NCR [National Capital Region, or Metro Manila] yet. Right now the most likely explanation for the spike is backlog,” said David.
“Also, cases don’t just spike in all LGUs just like that. It usually starts with a few LGUs. Lastly, the positivity rate is down to 17 percent,” he added.
Let's not panic in NCR yet. Right now the most likely explanation for the spike is backlog. As per @RicoMiranda2430, DOH warned about backlog. Also, cases don't just spike in all LGUs just like that. It usually starts with a few LGUs. Lastly, the positivity rate is down to 17%
— Dr. Guido David (@iamguidodavid) January 31, 2022
Based on David’s data from the Department of Health (DOH), three cities have the highest COVID-19 cases in Metro Manila: Manila with 861, Quezon City with 838, and Makati with 334.
At the bottom of the list is the municipality of Pateros with only 12 new reported cases.
NCR LGUs new cases on January 31, 2022 extracted from https://t.co/GUBv99HY8l. If there are concerns regarding accuracy of data, these should be addressed to DOH. @dzbb @dzrhnews @allangatus @DZAR1026 @NewsRmn @ali_sotto @dwiz882 @PhilstarNews @News5PH @ABSCBNNews @roribabyko pic.twitter.com/Izu6ctfdS7
— Dr. Guido David (@iamguidodavid) January 31, 2022
INQUIRER.net reached out to the Department of Health (DOH) to clarify whether or not the spike was caused by a backlog but had not yet received a reply as of this writing.
Earlier, the DOH reported 14,546 new infections of COVID-19, with active cases at 190,818, and total confirmed infections at 3,560,202
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