Active NCR COVID-19 cases to reach 269,000 by end-September despite MECQ –DOH

Active COVID-19 cases in Metro Manila are projected to rise by thousands despite the imposition of a modified enhanced community quarantine, the Department of Health (DOH) said Saturday.

“‘Pag tinignan ang ating projections mukang tataas pa rin ang mga kaso sa mga susunod na araw kaya dapat talaga ang paghahanda ay andiyan pa rin,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said during the Laging Handa public briefing.

(If we look at our projections, it seems that cases will continue to rise in the coming days, that's why we need to prepare.)

Citing projections from the government’s analytical experts, Vergeire said, “Kung mag-start ng MECQ ngayong araw hanggang end-September (If the MECQ starts today until end-September), we will have 66,000 cases by August 31 and 269,000 active cases by September 30 here in NCR.”

Metro Manila is under a MECQ from August 21 until August 31.

As of August 20, active cases in NCR reached 35,420 out of 611,874 total cases recorded since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, 567,785 have recovered and 8,699 died in the region.

On Friday, the Philippines logged a new all-time high of 17,231 new coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infections, bringing the nationwide tally to 1,807,800, as two laboratories failed to submit data on time.

Vergeire said the projections are not certain “kung maiaayos ang response nang mas maige (if our response will be much better).”

“Kung mai-improve ang (If we improve) vaccination, case detection to isolation, compliance to health standards, mapapababa natin ito (we can lower the cases),” she said.

“If we can further improve, then we will not reach these numbers,” she added.

The Health official also emphasized that community lockdowns are not the sole solution to address the pandemic. — DVM, GMA News