The resumption of face-to-face classes may bring about an increase in COVID-19 cases in the country by end of September up to October, the Department of Health (DOH) said on Friday.
Meanwhile, the DOH also reported that a total of 147 more cases of highly contagious Omicron COVID variant have been detected nationwide.
Last week, the Philippines logged 23,883 additional COVID-19 cases.
DOH officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said the figures were based on latest projections as millions of students returned to schools starting last Monday.
”We agree the probability is there. Based on our projections, which were already updated because of the opening of classes, maaaring tumaas hanggang 9,000 daily cases dito sa bansa pagdating ng end of September hanggang Oktubre,” said during a press briefing.
Private hospitals earlier warned that COVID-19 infection might go up amid increased mobility of the population.
As the country eases coronavirus restrictions over time, Vergeire said mobility patterns had already returned to pre-pandemic levels.
She enjoined the people to continue complying with the minimum public health standards, as well as increase the country’s COVID-19 vaccination rate.
“I just want to inform the people, these are projections. The projections may or may not happen, depending on whether the assumptions we put in will be fulfilled, which includes mobility, minimum public health standards, vaccination, and of course the opening of classes,” Vergeire said.
At present, the daily average COVID cases in the country is 3,231 representing a 14-percent decrease compared to the previous week’s 3,755. Vergeire said.
On Thursday, the country logged 3,126 fresh coronavirus infections, which was less than 4,000 for the 11th straight day.
The national COVID tally is 3,867,071, with 31,037 active cases and 61,519 fatalities.
The country registered 139 new cases of the omicron BA.5, 6 more cases of the BA.4, 1 case of BA.2.12.1, and 1 tagged as “other sublineages,” latest figures from DOH showed.
Of the new BA.5 cases, many 45 cases were detected in Davao Region, 37 in Calabarzon, and 17 in Soccsksargen.
On the other hand, three BA.4 cases were reported in the Bicol region, two in Soccsksargen, and one in the Davao region.
A BA.2.12.1 case was likewise detected in the Ilocos region and one tagged “other sublineages” was found in Caraga.
The figures were results of the latest sequencing run conducted as of Aug. 24, according to the DOH.
The Omicron offshoots BA.4 and BA.5 have partly driven a wave of new cases of the disease in parts of the world.
They were first discovered in South Africa and spread rapidly despite high population immunity conferred by prior waves and vaccinations.
Like other Omicron subvariants, they tended to have a milder disease course as they settle less in the lungs and more in the upper nasal passages, causing symptoms such as fever, tiredness, and loss of smell.
From August 15 to 21, the country recorded an average of 3,412 daily infections, which is 15 percent lower compared to the previous week.
To date, more than 72.4 million Filipinos are fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
Of the tally, more than 17.7 million have received their additional jab while 2 million have gotten their second booster shots.
An association of private hospitals has cited severe and critical COVID-19 cases among unvaccinated adults with comorbidities.
Dr. Rene Jose De Grano, president of Private Hospitals Association of the Philippines, Inc., said most patients hospitalized for severe or critical COVID-19 were elderly.
“We noticed that admitted patients who are immunocompromised and had pre-existing diseases were not fully vaccinated, they are the ones who progress to severe and critical,” he said in a public briefing on Thursday.
The DOH had said on Tuesday that coronavirus-related hospitalizations for serious and critical illness were rising in the past weeks, but remained within the threshold.
As of August 21, the Philippines has 811 severe and critical COVID cases, which translates to 9.7 percent of the total admissions.
This is the highest percentage of severe and critical COVID patients recorded in eight weeks, or since the week of June 20 to 26, which had a proportion of 10.7 percent severe and critical
COVID cases.
This is the fourth straight week that the severe and critical cases have accounted for more than 9 percent of the total COVID-19 admissions.
Majority of those admitted to hospitals for COVID-19 remain asymptomatic and mild cases, the DOH said.
“Majority of those admitted are mild cases, just incidental COVID. Those are discharged in a few days,” De Grano said.
The Philippines reported 3,580 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, raising the country’s total confirmed coronavirus infections to 3,864,034.
Fifty new COVID-19-related fatalities were also reported, the highest number of new deaths since May 1.
This raised the total number of people in the country who succumbed to the respiratory disease to 61,476.
Active cases stood at 30,240, the lowest since July 28.