No surge in Covid-19 cases: NTF adviser

MANILA – The government has not yet seen any surge or outbreak in new coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) cases but warned it is still a possibility.

National Task Force (NTF) Against Covid-19 special medical adviser, Dr. Ted Herbosa, said Friday that the result of mass gatherings before the elections have yet to come in.

“Well, we’re waiting. It’s because the incubation period for any outbreak to happen ay within three to five days. Iyan ang sabi ng ating mga (That’s according to our) infectious disease specialists. So ito na iyon, this time iyong puwedeng dumami ang number of cases (So that’s the time when the number of cases will increase),” he said in a televised public briefing.

“[A]pparently wala tayong nakikita ‘no na (we are not seeing) outbreaks or surge new cases which is good and which might reflect the high rate of vaccination that we attained with the vaccination program,” he added.

Herbosa said the NTF is also monitoring the extent of damage that can be caused by the Omicron BA.2.12.1 and its sub-variants, BA4 and BA5, in other countries since these are more infectious than the other Covid-19 variants.

“So, ito iyong ating mga binabantayan and ito kasi [sub-variants] are more infectious at may vaccine escape and that’s why nagpu-push tayo noong booster shot ng ating mga kababayan (we are monitoring these sub-variants because these are more infectious and has vaccine escape and that’s why we are pushing booster shots for our countrymen),” he added.

“Kasi kung magkaroon man tayo ng outbreak, the outbreak will most likely be doon sa mga lugar na mababa ang vaccination status (Because if we will have an outbreak, the outbreak will most likely hit areas with low vaccination status),” Herbosa said.

The latest data from the NTF showed that 68,526,134 Filipinos have already completed the two primary series of Covid-19 vaccine, with 13,519,545 of them receiving their first booster shots.

The new cases of Covid-19 are 19 percent lower for May 3 to 9 at 159 daily, compared to 196 the previous week.

On May 11, a total of 109 new cases were recorded.