MANILA – The Philippines already flattened the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) curve, a group of researchers said, even if the Department of Health (DOH) continues to report thousands of new cases daily.
University of the Philippines professor and OCTA Research Team fellow Guido David said the basis for saying the flattened curve was the country’s coronavirus reproductive rate has decreased to a value less than one.
“Actually na-flatten na siya,” David said in an interview with CNN Philippines’ Newsroom Weekend on Sunday, noting that the COVID-19 reproductive number has lowered to around 0.94 from 0.99 last week.
“So nagde-decrease pa siya and that is very good news. Ibig sabihin, nasu-sustain natin ‘yung flattening of the curve,” he added.
The reproductive number is an epidemiologic metric used to describe the “contagiousness” or transmission potential of infectious agents, according to the United States’ National Center for Biotechnology Information.
David, however, said that the Filipinos cannot still be “overly excited” as he warned that the COVID-19 trends are subject to change and can be reversed “at any time.”
“We would like to remind people not to be overly excited dito sa flattening of the curve. Yes, we’re seeing it pero the trends are not irreversible… Ibig sabihin, we could have another surge,” David said.
“The virus is still here, we’re still getting around 3,000 cases per day and so we have to sustain ‘yung momentum, to sustain the gain. So we have to keep doing the right things and to not falter,” he added./PN
