(INQUIRER FILE PHOTO)
MANILA, Philippines — Easing the face mask mandate amid the COVID-19 pandemic may result in up to 18,000 new COVID-19 cases daily towards November and December, Department of Health officer-in-charge Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said on Thursday.
President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. will issue an order that will make the wearing of face masks indoors voluntary, Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco earlier said.
“As a doctor and based on the scientific projections that has been done by our experts, once we loosen up the masking, maari pong magkaroon tayo ng mga kaso towards November and December from 2,500 and ang pinakamataas po, ‘yung higher limit would be around 18,000 cases,” Vergeire said on ANC Headstart.
(As a doctor and based on the scientific projections that have been done by our experts, once we ease the face mask rule, we may have cases towards November and December from 2,500 and up to 18,000 cases.)
She stressed that the projected increase in COVID-19 cases is not only because of the relaxed mask mandate, but likewise because of subvariants that have entered the country and “evaded our immunity.”
The Department of Health has previously reported the local transmission of the Omicron XBB subvariant and XBC variant.
Personal interactions
The increased personal interactions, Vergeire said, is also another factor why COVID-19 infections may rise.
Vergeire pointed out the need to preserve the country’s healthcare system capacity to respond to the projected increase in cases.
“So, expectedly, cases are there. It’s going to increase. But what we need to preserve would be our healthcare system capacity. For that, as I’ve said, even through this recent na pagtaas ng kaso, na-accommodate po ng system natin. Nakita natin [na] we were able to manage. Hopefully, we’ll be able to manage in the coming months,” the health official said.
As of October 26, there were 21,325 recorded active COVID-19 cases nationwide.