(Eagle News) — Metro Manila’s daily new COVID-19 cases could reach up to 11,000 by the end of September due to the Delta variant.
According to the Department of Health, this is based on projections made by FASSSTER, a disease surveillance tool and based on the assumption the variant was 60 percent more transmissible than the Alpha variant first detected in the United Kingdom.
It was also based on the condition health protocols would not be properly implemented.
“We acknowledge that there is an increase of our case metrics which is why we urge people to continue adhering to the minimum health standards and get vaccinated, and for our local government units to strictly implement our protocols,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a statement.
According to Vergeire, Metro Manila is at moderate risk, with a 19 percent increase for its two-week growth rates and average daily attack rate of 6 cases per 100,000 population.
Makati, Las Piñas, Pasay, Pasig, Taguig, Paranaque, Manila, Valenzuela, Navotas, Marikina, and Caloocan, she said, all have positive growth rates.
Makati, Las Piñas, and Pasay, she said, also have a high-risk average daily attack rate.
“In terms of our health care capacity, nationally we are seeing low health care and intensive care utilization rate (ICUR). We are also closely monitoring pending ER admissions,” Vergeire said.
While there is enough capacity as of now “as evidenced by the low-risk HCUR (healthcare utilization rate) and ICUR, she said the Philippines “must continue our preparations to strengthen local health system capacities and further augment the needed resources to maintain these low-risk levels.”
“We need to make sure that we have enough capacity to cope with the demand in the event that cases continue their upward trend,” she added.
The DOH has confirmed the local transmission of the Delta variant in the country with 119 Delta cases so far confirmed.