DOH sees up to 1.2K daily COVID cases by end-June if uptick lasts

COVID-19 cases in the country could reach 800 up to 1,200 daily by the end of June if recent series of increases is sustained, the Department of Health said Saturday.

"Ang meron tayo, projections that by the end of June, maaari na aabot tayo to 800 to 1,200 cases per day kung magtutuloy-tuloy ang mga kaso natin sa ngayon," DOH undersecretary and spokesperson Maria Rosario Vergeire said at the Laging Handa briefing.

(Our projection is, by the end of June new daily cases could reach 800 to 1,200 if the current uptick continues.)

"These projections are not cast in stone. These are just used for us to prepare," she clarified.

But Vergeire differs with Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, who said on Friday that he expects a possible "minor and short-lived" COVID-19 surge.

"Let us not call it a surge. When you talk about a surge, it is a sudden increase in the number of cases," Vergeire said.

"If we look at it, just like what I said, yes it is increasing but it is not sudden and the additional cases are not that numerous," she said in a mix of English and Filipino. —LBG, GMA News

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