According to a member of the independent and interdisciplinary research group consisting mostly of University of the Philippines (UP) faculty and alumni, the country’s COVID-19 infection curve has finally already flattened.

In an interview, UP OCTA Research Team’s member and mathematics professor Dr. Guido David said, “It’s about 0.94 when we last checked it using the latest data from mga 0.99 last week.” 

“So nagde-decrease pa siya, and that is very good news. Ibig sabihin na su-sustain natin yung flattening of the curve,” added David. He also shared that the country is averaging around 3,000 positive cases now compared to the over 4,000 cases recorded in mid- to late August.

However, there’s nothing much to be excited about. The UP professor said that the flattening of the curve does not mean the pandemic is over—or that our COVID-19 problem has already been solved.

“The virus is still here. We’re still getting around 3,000 cases per day, and we have to sustain yung momentum natin,” he said. 

According to David, there are still other areas in the country emerging as hotspots for infection, which is why we still have to be careful despite the decrease of positive cases in Metro Manila.

“Our goal is to reduce the number of transmission so we can now relax the quarantine further and open up the economy, but until then the fight is not over,” he said.

As a further motivator, David noted, “We know that if we keep doing this, then maybe we can open up before December and have a more normal Christmas than we might expect so this is not a time to relax. It’s a time to keep on doing what we have to do to prevent transmissions.”

Header photo by Marianne Bermudez for Inquirer.net

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