MANILA, Philippines — OCTA Research said Wednesday that new COVID-19 cases in the Philippines may reach up to 10,000 a day once new Omicron subvariants enter the country.
“We might be seeing 5,000 to 10,000 cases per day but nowhere near the 40,000 we saw back in January,” OCTA Research fellow Guido David said in an interview with ABS-CBN News Channel.
He, however, said the entry of new Omicron subvariants is not projected to “trigger a major threat of an outbreak.”
“Based on the data we’re seeing, the presentation is not that much different from Omicron, and the characteristics are not that much different, which means most cases will most likely be mild,” David said, adding authorities might not need to raise alert levels if the country records only 5,000 cases per day.
“We’d like to remind our kababayans that even though this will likely be mild for vaccinated people, it may not be mild necessarily for unvaccinated people or those with comorbidities,” he added.
The OCTA Research fellow urged those who remain unvaccinated to get jabbed and those who are eligible for boosters to get additional protection, and follow public health safeguards, especially during the election season.
The firm’s projections are still preliminary, according to David who said they are monitoring trends in South Africa, India and the United States.
The Department of Health earlier warned there could be half a million active cases in Metro Manila by mid-May if people continue to disregard public health standards.
Data from the DOH showed that the number of active cases nationwide was 11,580 as of April 26. From April 12 to 24, the agency logged 1,465 additional infections, or an average of 209 cases per day.
Since the start of the pandemic, the country has registered over 3.68 million COVID-19 cases, with 60,195 deaths.