New COVID-19 cases are declining and after half a month under quarantine, a flattening of the curve appears to be within reach. However, this shouldn't lead the public to "relax" their defenses, an adviser to the government's pandemic task force said Monday.
For at least two successive weeks, cases have been declining. The reproduction rate, which measures how many others a COVID-19 patient could infect is also less than 1, the threshold that indicates a flattening of the curve, said Guido David, a fellow at the UP-Octa think tank.
“It doesn’t mean we can relax now. We’re still getting more than 1,000 cases in NCR (National Capital Region),” he said. The goal is to bring cases down further even as more businesses reopen, David said.
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The positivity rate, which measures how many of the tests return positive, has gone down to 12 percent from 19 percent, he said.
David credited localized lockdowns, better isolation and quarantine protocols, increased testing capacity, and people following health guidelines for the imporving numbers.
“People are more aware now. I hope this trend continues,” he said.
