14 of 17 NCR cities seeing minor rise in COVID-19 cases, says DOH

The Department of Health  said Saturday that most of the cities in the National Capital Region are noticing a slight uptick in new COVID-19 cases.

At the Laging Handa briefing, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said that Metro Manila is still under low risk classification, but “out of 17 areas, may 14 na may (there are 14 with) positive growth rate.”

Vergeire said that while there are areas that have recorded uptick in new cases “hindi nasu-sustain ang pagtaas nang tuloy tuloy (continuous increase is not sustained).”

“We are seeing the positivity rate has increased to 1.6%,” she said.

However, Vegeire noted that the increase in cases is not significant because admissions in hospitals as well as severe and critical cases are not increasing.

She said the uptick seen in NCR might be due to the presence of the sub-variants of the Omicron and the waning immunity of the population since many have not received their booster shots.

Quezon City under yellow status

Vergeire also confirmed that a photo circulating in social media that Quezon City, NCR’s largest city, is under yellow status indicating that there is a possibility of a surge in the next 14 days is "correct."

According to her, the said slide from the Quezon City Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit was leaked.

But the Health official said that the public should not panic as the government is monitoring the situation so that hospitals will not be overwhelmed due to a surge in cases. —LBG, GMA News