COVID-19 test shows positive result. STOCK PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — Over 10,600 daily infections of COVID-19 are projected in Metro Manila by the first week of October, the Department of Health (DOH) said on Tuesday.
“‘Yung projections natin we can have as high as 10,612 cases ng COVID-19 dito pa lang sa NCR by the first week of October,” DOH officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a media forum.
(For our projections, we can have as high as 10,612 cases of COVID-19 here in the NCR by the first week of October.)
“So maaari po talaga magtuloy tuloy ang pagtaas ng COVID-19 dito sa ating bansa even way through this October, November and December,” she added.
(So the spread of COVID-19 can continue here in our country even through this October, November and December.)
However, Vergeire clarified that these are merely projections based on assumptions due to a low number of booster shots administered, low compliance to minimum public health standards, increased mobility and Omicron subvariants.
“But hopefully not, because we have control over two of these assumptions and that would be the uptick of boosters and compliance to public health standards,” said Vergeire.
She then called on the public to help the government by getting their booster shots and continuously complying with the minimum public health standards.
Meanwhile, Vergeire admitted that DOH currently has a low booster rate in its “PinasLakas” program — a campaign which was launched to inoculate 23.8 million or at least 50 percent of the eligible population with the COVID-19 booster shot within the first 100 days of the Marcos administration.
“Admittedly for these past days medyo mababa po talaga ang output natin. Sa ngayon po ang ating total mula July 26, ang ating accomplishments were 441,995,” said Vergeire.
(Admittedly, for these past days, our output has been really low. Right now, our total from July 26, our accomplishments were 441,995.)
However, Vergeire noted that by adding the booster shots they have inoculated before the start of the campaign (from July 6 to 25), the government has already vaccinated 1,192,502 individuals with the first COVID-19 booster dose, which is about 5 percent of the targeted eligible population.
Meanwhile, regarding senior citizens, Vergeire said the DOH has only inoculated 15,886, which accounts for 1.48 percent of the 1.74 million eligible senior citizens.