DOH: No COVID-19 surge despite strains, holidays

MORE PROTECTED People used to wear face shields on top of masks at the onset of the pandemic. With many already vaccinated, people are nowmore protected. —INQUIRER PHOTO

Department of Health (DOH) officer in charge Maria Rosario Vergeire does not expect a resurgence in COVID-19 infections despite the presence of more immune-evasive Omicron subvariants and the expected in-person gatherings during the holidays.

At a press briefing on Friday, Vergeire expressed confidence that there would be no significant increase in the number of cases by the end of December “as long as the public knows how to protect themselves [against COVID-19].”

“We think that the increase in cases would not be felt as much,” said the health official. But what is “more important,” she said, is keeping severe and critical infections as well as hospitalizations at a manageable level.

The health agency expects daily cases to reach only up to around 3,100 by December, Vergeire said. The number, however, is nearly triple the current average number of infections at 1,288 per day.

The case projections for the coming Christmas season, however, are much higher than the recorded daily infections in late December last year which remained below the 1,000 level. But by January, the country bore the brunt of the highly contagious Omicron variant which pushed the country’s new cases to as high as around 39,000.

Meanwhile, pandemic monitor OCTA Research sees a “BQ.1 wave” this month, as it reports a continued rise in daily infections in Metro Manila.

In a Twitter post, OCTA Research fellow Guido David said the seven-day average growth rate of COVID-19 cases jumped to 411 on Thursday from 264 the previous week. The capital region’s positivity rate also rose to 11.9 percent this week from 9.4 percent a week ago.

“The rate of increase in the positivity rate in the NCR (National Capital Region) is around the same rate of increase during the Omicron BA.5 wave (from June) and the XBB (from September),” David said.

He pointed out that “this projects to a December BQ.1 wave.”

Based on the latest biosurveillance report of the DOH from Nov. 21 to Nov. 24, there were two new local cases—from Cagayan Valley and Central Visayas—of BQ.1, the latest Omicron sublineage detected in the country. This brought the total BQ.1 case tally to 16.

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