INQUIRER FILE PHOTOS/JEROME CRISTOBAL
MANILA, Philippines — The country’s COVID-19 cases will remain below 1,000 by the middle of next month, according to the latest forecasts by the Department of Health (DOH), which does not expect a rapid spike in infections despite the recent holiday gatherings and threat of new COVID-19 strains.
Maria Rosario Vergeire, officer in charge of the DOH, said on Tuesday that national daily cases were expected to reach around 730 by Feb. 15 should minimum public health standards continue to decline and more immune-evasive variants enter the country.
But she pointed out that “these are just estimates to prepare our [monitoring] units, hospitals and surveillance system.”
Vergeire, however, noted that there was a 1 percent increase in COVID-19 infections this week, but maintained this was “not significant” enough to attribute this to the holiday break.
Intensive care units and severe or critical admissions due to COVID-19 are also declining, but have “slowed down in recent days,” according to DOH monitoring. Both remained below 600 cases, as of Jan. 8.