Private hospital group: State of calamity should continue until Q1 2023

A group of private hospitals said on Thursday that the state of calamity in the Philippines due to COVID-19 should be further extended to the first quarter of 2023 in light of a possible spike in cases during the holiday season.
 
The state of calamity will expire on December 31, 2022.
 
“Sa tingin po natin dapat ituloy po ‘yan kahit po siguro (We believe it should be continued) until the first quarter of the year,” Private Hospitals Association of the Philippines (PHAPI) president Dr. Jose de Grano said at a public briefing.
 
De Grano said active COVID-19 cases in the country still stand at 17,000.
 
“At tuloy-tuloy pa rin po ‘yan, lalo na po ngayon na magkakaroon tayo ng mga holiday season. At kita naman po ninyo na halos lahat hindi na nagma-maskara. So ibig sabihin may posibilidad pa rin na tumaas,” De Grano said. 
 
(And this will continue, especially since it is now the holiday season. And we can see that almost everyone is not wearing face masks. So this means there is a possibility that cases will increase again.)
 
Mask use has been optional since late last month, with the exception of places like hospitals, ambulances, and public land, air, or sea transportation.
 
Earlier, independent monitoring group OCTA Research said that another wave of COVID-19 infections may start in the National Capital Region due to an increase in the positivity rate.
 
According to data from the Department of Health on Wednesday, NCR recorded the highest number of cases in the past two weeks with 3,382. — VBL, GMA Integrated News