OCTA Research sees rise in NCR COVID-19 cases as holidays end

The OCTA Research team on Saturday said that the number of new coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infections in the National Capital Region (NCR) had started to increase with the end of the holiday season.

According to a report on “24 Oras Weekend,” 554 new cases were recorded in the NCR on Thursday, December 31 while 404 were recorded in the region on Friday, January 1.

This was higher compared to the 320 average new cases recorded in the NCR from December 26.

The OCTA Research team said that the increase was largely due to testing centers, which decreased their personnel or closed during the holidays, returning to normal operations.

“This leads us to expect an increase in the number of new COVID-19 cases in the first week of January 2021 as testing centers resume normal operations,” the team said.

Meanwhile, the Philippines reported a total of 476,916 cases with 439,942 recoveries and 9,253 fatalities. — Joahna Lei Casilao/DVM, GMA News