New COVID-19 cases more than doubled in Metro Manila in just two days, but Health officials said this was most likely the result of a reporting backlog.
The doubling of cases to 4,040 from 2,008 on Sunday came as Metro Manila entered the less stringent COVID-19 Alert Level 2.
However, the Philippines logged 9,493 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, raising the total case count to 3,569,665, the Department of Health (DOH) reported.
This was the lowest number of daily infections since Jan. 4 this year, when 5,434 cases were reported.
Noting the steep rise in a single day, OCTA Research fellow Guido David said it was likely the result of the late reporting of test results, given that the positivity rate had declined to 17 percent in the region.
“4,040 in the NCR today. I hope AL2 was not premature. If this is not [a] backlog, this is a resurgence of sorts. We need to follow health protocols,” David wrote on his Twitter account.
In a separate tweet, he added: “Let’s not panic in NCR yet. Right now, the most likely explanation for the spike is backlog…. DOH warned about [a] backlog. Also, cases don’t just spike in all LGUs just like that. It usually starts with a few LGUs,” he said, referring to local government units.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque III also said backlogs were behind the doubling in the new case count, noting that late reporting cannot be avoided.
The rise in Metro Manila cases could not be said to be due from a resurgence, Duque said, but reminded the public to observe minimum health protocols.
“Although we are at Alert Level 2, this does not mean that we should be complacent in wearing face masks and physical distancing. We should remind the public of this.” Duque said.
Meanwhile, the country’s positivity rate was at 28.8 percent, based on 31,053 tests conduced on Jan. 30.
The DOH reported 51 new fatalities, bringing the COVID-19 death toll to 54,054.
The DOH also reported 176,053 active cases, of which 6,133 were asymptomatic; 164,995 were mild; 3,070 were moderate; 1,529 were severe; and 326 were critical.
Nationwide, 46 percent of ICU beds, 45 percent of isolation beds, 47 percent of ward beds, and 25 percent of ventilators, were in use.
In Metro Manila, 40 percent of ICU beds, 35 percent of isolation beds, 40 percent of ward beds, and 24 percent of ventilators, were in use.
Meanwhile, OCTA said Batangas, Laguna and Quezon have already been classified to be at “moderate risk” for COVID-19, following the NCR, Cavite and Rizal.
“The goal in the NCR is for the positivity rate to decrease to less than 10 percent within two weeks,” David said.
As of Jan. 31, NCR’s positivity rate is at 17 percent.
David also projected that the country’s daily tally of new COVID-19 cases could drop to about 5,000 by February.
COVID-19 infections have peaked or have gone down in “almost all of Luzon”, David noted.
David said cases are also starting to decrease in parts of Visayas and Mindanao like Cebu City, Tacloban, Iloilo, and Davao City.
The Philippines logged record high daily COVID-19 cases several times in January, driven by the highly contagious Omicron variant.
Infections have since dropped, prompting authorities to relax curbs in Metro Manila and several other areas from Tuesday until Feb. 15.
Meanwhile, an infectious disease expert on Tuesday said a new variant “as deadly as Delta” could still emerge but said this was unlikely in the next three months because people are still protected against the Omicron variant.
Solante, a member of the government’s Vaccine Expert Panel, said everyone should be vaccinated against COVID-19 to prevent the emergence of a heavily mutated variant of concern.
He noted that coronavirus mutation might only happen among unvaccinated or immunocompromised people.
He said those infected during the surge of Omicron cases might also benefit from a “temporary immunity.”
