Covid uptick ‘inevitable’

Malacañang is urging the public to continue adhering to health protocols against Covid-19 after the health department said it has seen the “start of a peak” in coronavirus cases.

Outgoing Palace Communications Secretary Martin Andanar on Tuesday reminded Filipinos to observe mask-wearing, physical distancing and frequent handwashing.

“Continue to practice health protocols,” he told Palace reporters. “It’s inevitable to go to crowded areas because the economy has opened, so you just have to be careful,” Andanar added.

The senior Palace official also called on the public to keep themselves fit by eating healthy food and sleeping early. Andanar said the increase in infections that the country has been seeing was also observed in other countries like Taiwan.

“It’s bound to happen because the economy has opened and we cannot just impose lockdowns,” he said.

Detected coronavirus infections jumped by 82 percent to 436 daily average new cases last week from 240 the previous week, according to the government data.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire likened the increase to a trend the country saw in September 2021 due to a Delta-driven surge in infections.

An uptick in cases was also observed in Ilocos region, Cagayan Valley, CALABARZON, Mimaropa, Western Visayas and Northern Mindanao.

Vergeire warned the public that cases may “continuously rise in the next couple of weeks,” but said the current trend does not qualify as a Covid-19 surge yet.

Experts have attributed it to increased mobility, detection of more transmissible Covid-19 variants, and the waning immunity of the public.

The majority of the provinces in the Philippines have been placed under alert level 1, the most relaxed Covid-19 alert level, where all establishments are allowed to operate.