THE National Capital Region (NCR) may further deescalate to Alert Level 1 if coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases in the region continue its downward trend, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said yesterday.
In a televised public briefing, Duque said: “If the numbers show continuing decline, for example, we were at over 2,000 yesterday (Monday), if we go below 1,000 or 500 per day, we may deescalate to Alert Level 1.”
Metro Manila, which is the epicenter of the pandemic in the Philippines, is under Alert Level 2 until November 21.
Duque’s statement may likely come into fruition as the independent OCTA Research yesterday projected that cases in the NCR may drop to less than 200 per day by the end of November.
In a social media post, OCTA fellow Guido David said the current trend in cases in the NCR has been steadily declining.
“The current seven-day average is 385, the lowest since February 2021, or just before the Alpha/Beta surge,” said David.
“If this trend continues, we expect cases in the NCR to average less than 200 per day by the end of November,” he added.
OCTA data shows that cases in the NCR have declined from 1,919 (October 5-11), to 896 (October 19-25), to 385 (November 2-8).
The health chief reiterated the DOH’s concern over the flocking of people in malls and other public places as soon as the region shifted to Alert Level 2 last Friday, which he said carried high risks of transmitting the virus.
“This is alarming because such crowding of people brings the possibility that we will see another spike in cases,” he said.
