DOH sees COVID-19 cases reaching peak by end of January

The Department of Health (DOH) on Tuesday said the number of COVID-19 cases in the country — on the rise again and believed to be triggered by the Omicron variant — could reach its peak by the end of January.

In a television interview, DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said this is based on the Department of Health's initial projections on the current trend in daily infections.

Vergeire warned that the number would be more than the figures during the peak of the Delta variant last year.

"What I can give the public as an information right now would be that we did initial estimates, the assumption would be based on calculations that Omicron is eight times more transmissible than Delta and that the peak will happen by the end of January," Vergeire told CNN Philippines.

"As to the numbers, I won't give it now because it might mislead people," she added.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III earlier said Omicron may already be responsible for the sharp increase of COVID-19 infections in the previous days.

Vergeire said it could already be assumed that there is already local transmission of the highly transmissible variant. The DOH earlier reported 10 additional Omicron cases, bringing the total Omicron caseload in the country to 14. Three were local cases -- two in Bicol and one in the National Capital Region.

"The assumption is there because for us to be able to declare that there's local transmission, we need definitive evidence and we need this confirmation coming from Philippine Genome Center through whole genome sequencing," she said.

When it comes to testing, Vergeire said ideally, 100,000 tests should be done per day. She said the number of testings has already increased in Metro Manila although there is still low output in other regions.

"We have been observing that there's a decrease in the number of being tested but in NCR, we have seen that NCR is starting to increase their testing. But for the other regions, we are really having that low number of tests," she said.

"One of the factors that we are looking at is that most of the local governments right now are using rapid antigen test for them to supplement the RT-PCR test that they have. This can be one of the factors that we have right now for the low testing output," Vergeire added.

There have been calls for the government to conduct free mass testing in order to curb the spread of COVID-19.

Vergeire said those eligible for free testing are those who are symptomatic or those who have been exposed to a COVID-19 patient.

The Philippines recorded 4,084 additional COVID-19 infections on Monday, bringing the country’s total tally to 2,855,819.

Total recoveries reached 2,779,241, with 497 new ones, while 16 new COVID-19 fatalities raised the death toll to 51,586, the DOH said. —KBK, GMA News