Cases of Covid-19 in the country, particularly in Metro Manila, have started to peak, the Department of Health said on Monday.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said that infections rose by 70 percent in the past week nationwide.
Cases in the National Capital Region doubled.
Vergeire said that the increase is similar to when the country started to record a significant increase in cases in September 2021 and January 2022 during the start of the Delta and Omicron wave.
However, the official said the trend should not be compared to a “surge.”
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“Right now, what we are seeing is that the number of cases is continuously increasing especially in the National Capital Region. We can see that this is really the start of the peak in the number of cases,” Vergeire said.
She said that the country recorded 2,458 new cases the previous week.
“In their average number of cases from the previous week, we can see that there’s a 70 percent increase in the number of cases,” Vergeire pointed out.
She attributed the rise in cases to the Omicron subvariants, increased patterns of mobility and the waning immunity of the population due to the slow uptake of boosters.
While Metro Manila recorded a positive two-week growth rate, it is still under low Covid-19 risk classification, the Health official said.
“We are guiding our public, making them aware that this might be the start that the cases will continuously rise in the next couple of weeks,” Vergeire said.
The DoH is monitoring slight increases in Western Visayas, Northern Mindanao, Ilocos Region, Cagayan Valley, Calabarzon and Mimaropa.
