Dr. Guido David, a member of the OCTA Research Group, has yet to determine the cause of the spike in the weekly 2019 Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) positivity rate of the National Capital Region.
In a Twitter post on Wednesday, November 23, David said the weekly COVID-19 positivity rate of Metro Manila rose from 7.4 percent to 9.2 percent.
"Hindi pa natin masasabi kung ano yung dahil ng pagtaas kasi, unang-una, binabantayan pa natin medyo yung mga numero kung tuloy-tuloy ang pagtaas," David said on Thursday, November 24, during DZRH's Damdaming Bayan.
David also mentioned that most people continue to wear face masks even though the government has already made it optional even in indoor spaces.
"Kahit naman optional ang face mask, masasbi ko na masaya naman ako kasi nagtanong ako sa Twitter kung ilan yung patuloy na nagsusuot ng face mask, nasa 85 percent yung nagsabi na patuloy pa rin sila nagsusuot ng face mask," David explained.
David warned that Metro Manila might experience another surge of new COVID-19 cases if the positivity rate will continue to rise.
"Hindi pa tumataas yung bilang ng kaso pero mukha, sa tingin natin, magsisimula or baka nagsisimula tumaas. Hindi pa naman iyan guaranteed, pero mukhang possible na panimula na naman ng wave sa NCR," David stressed.
"Pabalik-balik yung wave parang hindi siya nawawala. Umaasa tayo na sana mawala siya at bumaba talaga pero nandiyan pa rin," he added.
The OCTA Research fellow also cautioned the public of the threat posed by the new variants of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, which could cause a surge of new infections.
David stressed the importance of genome sequencing for the Department of Health to monitor the appearance of SARS-CoV-2 variants, particularly the B.Q. 1.1 strain which has become dominant variant in the United States.
Reports state that B.Q. 1.1 variant can evade the protection provided by COVID-19 vaccination, and infection.
