No surge in COVID-19 cases yet, says Palace

MANILA, Philippines — There is no surge in COVID-19 infections yet in the country, but the public should continue to observe health measures to prevent the spread of the virus, Malacañang said yesterday.

Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said the number of reported coronavirus cases continues to be on a downtrend, but this should not be taken as enough reason to be complacent when celebrating the holidays.

“We have warned about a possible surge because of the Christmas season. There are no reports stating that we already have a surge of infections but we must continue to be careful,” he said in Filipino at a press briefing.

Reports have quoted Guido David of the OCTA research team as saying that the reproduction number of COVID-19 in Metro Manila is up slightly at 1.06. A reproductive rate is the average number of people infected by one person in a susceptible population, according to the World Health Organization.

Roque was unfazed by the increase in the reproduction number and pointed out that OCTA only relies on the data of the health department.?“They do not have their own figures.

It is still (the) government that gets the figures... From (a reproduction rate of) .99 to 1.06, that increase is not that much. But at the same time, it is telling us that we need to be careful.

Since there is a slight increase even before the height of the celebration of Christmas. To have a merry Christmas and a happy new year, let us continue to follow minimum health standards – mask, hand washing, social distancing,” he said.

He also said that lockdown restrictions in an area can be escalated if its health capacity is in danger of being overwhelmed by a rising number of infections.

“Our strategy is to resort to localized and granular lockdown. But ultimately, it’s the people who will decide whether the COVID-19 cases will increase or decrease during Christmas,” he added.

Roque reminded the public to refrain from talking while dining in restaurants to avoid spreading the virus.

“Once you remove your face mask and face shield to eat, contamination may happen. If possible, do the gossiping after eating. You can gossip while walking in the mall or while waiting for the food but once the food arrives, keep quiet,” he said.

The Philippines has logged more than 449,000 COVID-19 infections as of Dec. 13 with 8,733 deaths. More than half of the country’s intensive care units (60 percent), isolation beds (64 percent), ward beds (71 percent) and ventilators remain available.

The Department of Health (DOH) shares the projection of the OCTA Research Group from the University of the Philippines that COVID-19 cases will likely increase this Christmas.

According to DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire, the OCTA projections are based on “modelling and scientific projections,” which need to be validated.

She clarified the OCTA is a DOH partner from academe and serves to guide the COVID-19 response.

Vergeire said the DOH, just like the OCTA, is also expecting an increase in cases this Yuletide season due to the increased mobility of people.

“As we have said these past weeks, there is that possible surge and we all recognize that. That’s why we ask the public to continue to observe the minimum health standards so, hopefully, the spike in cases won’t happen,” she added.

Meanwhile, political consultancy firm BluePrint.PH said yesterday that amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Filipinos have been “distracted” by various issues as shown by their social media posts.

In a statement, BluePrint.PH chief executive officer Eero Brillantes said the debates about alternative cures for COVID-19 have become a distraction for Filipinos based on their social media engagement. Also taking the attention of Filipinos are the corruption issues that hound the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth).

Brillantes said despite concern for their health during the pandemic, Filipinos’ posts on Facebook indicated an “emerging undercurrent between Western treatment and natural treatment.”

“The use of natural/common treatment seems to undercut the COVID vaccine message. Most of the COVID treatment is being spun as motivation for hospitals to make money, reinforced by the PhilHealth implosion,” he added.

According to Brillantes, this means that the government will have to work “extra hard to convince people it is not wasting money and that people must get themselves vaccinated.”

The findings are based on data analysis of almost 300 million posts by Filipinos on Facebook from Sept. 1 to Nov. 30, done by BluePrint.PH and its partner, Singapore-based Data Mining and Artificial Intelligence.