An infectious diseases expert believes that another surge in Covid-19 cases is unlikely this coming holiday season.
People flock to Ilaya in Binondo, Manila on Jan. 2, 2022. Metro Manila will be under Alert Level 3 starting Jan. 3 until Jan. 15, 2022 due to the rise of COVID-19 cases.
He explained that the Omicron subvariant BA.2 which entered the country in January, was more severe than BA.1 in terms of effectivity. He added that the Omicron subvariant BQ.1 came from BQ.1.1 and bivalent vaccines also protect against these, aside from BA.1, at BA.2. “I think ang mangyayari dito, bagama’t puwedeng tumaas ay bahagya lang po iyong taas na iyan and because mataas ang antas ng pagbabakuna ay hindi po mapupuno iyong ating ospital ,” he added.According to Salvana, BQ.1 which is related to BA.5 which is the dominant subvariant in the world right now, has additional mutations which can increase immune escape against infections from the vaccines but there is no evidence that it’s more severe.
What’s important, Salvana said, is that the country is now headed towards endemicity, and what needs to be monitored right now is the healthcare utilization capacity which remains to be low. He explained that cases can go up but a lot of it will be mild as long as the vaccination rate remains to be high, boosters are being acquired, and face masks are being used.
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