Filipinos may enjoy a merry Christmas this year if the downtrend in COVID-19 cases continues, the OCTA Research Group said.
According to OCTA’s Prof. Guido David, the Philippines is possibly at the end game of the Delta variant surge based on the pattern of cases in countries which have also experienced the surge in Delta cases.
“We want to have a happy Christmas this time around, I think we will have it,” David said at the online Pandesal forum today (Sept. 21), while citing “low infection” in Indonesia and India.
“If we compare to the level of infection in India, it’s equivalent to 4,000 cases per day in the Philippines, and if we can get to that level by October, November, we should be at the endemic level and that would be like the end game for us,” he added.
In preparation for the holiday season, Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion pushed for the implementation of “bakuna bubbles” in the last quarter of this year to revive the economy and bring back more jobs.
“Because the more you allow the unvaccinated greater mobility, the more they will fill up the hospital. Simple, eh. As business men we look at the problems,” he said.
“What you have to solve is that those who are not vaccinated, we are solving them by giving them the vaccines. Why are you saying it is discriminatory when it is not? We are actually protecting them,” he added.
National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19 deputy chief implementer Sec. Vince Dizon said the slowdown in case trend may be an effect of high vaccination rates in some areas.
“I think all the data from the experts point to the fact that it is really the vaccination program, especially in key cities where the vaccination rate is already very high, that is saving us from the Delta variant,” he said in the Sept. 20 Talk to the People briefing.
Meanwhile, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said it is focusing on ensuring sufficient in-demand medicines such as tocilizumab and oxygen tanks. – Report from Mark Fetalco/AG- jlo
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