OCTA: Premature to tighten curbs over COVID-19 holiday uptick

ABS-CBN News

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="People shop for last-minute Christmas gifts at Divisoria in Manila on Christmas Eve, Dec. 24, 2021. Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2021/news/12/27/20211224-christmas-eve-shoppers-divisoria-md-10.jpg"/><figcaption>People shop for last-minute Christmas gifts at Divisoria in Manila on Christmas Eve, Dec. 24, 2021. Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News</figcaption></figure></div><div> </div><p>MANILA — The OCTA Research Group said on Monday it was premature to tighten restrictions over a COVID-19 &quot;holiday uptick&quot; that might only be temporary. </p><p>Metro Manila&#x27;s COVID-19 reproduction rate or number of persons a patient can infect nearly doubled to 0.85 from 0.44 last week. This figure was only at 0.33 in early December, said OCTA fellow Dr. Guido David. </p><p>The country experienced a similar &quot;holiday uptick&quot; around December last year, he noted. </p><p>“Hindi natin masasabi ngayon na omicron-driven ito dahil nakita rin naman ito last year, siguro sa pagtitipon-tipon ng mga kababayan natin,” David said in a televised public briefing. </p><p>(We cannot say that this is omicron-driven because we also saw this last year, probably due to the gatherings of our compatriots.) </p><p>“There’s no need to increase restrictions at this time because… it could just be a holiday uptick, which means after the holidays, possibly, bababa rin ‘yong number of cases and positivity rate (could go down),” said David, a University of the Philippines mathematics professor.</p><p>He also noted that there is a reduction in the country&#x27;s COVID-19 testing output as some laboratories closed due to the holidays and the onslaught of typhoon Odette. </p><p>“Sa ngayon kasi, hindi pa tayo puwedeng gumawa ng premature intervention kasi hindi pa kumpleto iyong nakikita nating larawan,” David said, adding it would be better to wait until January. </p><p>(For now, we cannot introduce a premature intervention because we cannot see the whole picture yet.)</p><p>“Kung tumataas pa rin sa January, then we have to reassess iyong situation,” he said. <br/> <br/>(If cases are still going up in January, then we have to reassess the situation.) </p><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=1874856" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div><div style="text-align:center"><em>Video courtesy of PTV</em></div>

The OCTA Research Group said it was premature to tighten restrictions over a COVID-19 'holiday uptick' that might only be temporary. 

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OCTA: Premature to tighten curbs over COVID-19 holiday uptick

OCTA: Premature to tighten curbs over COVID-19 holiday uptick

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Published Dec 27, 2021 03:29 PM PHT

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Updated Dec 27, 2021 03:48 PM PHT

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