Omicron watch 2

PHILIPPINES - In Brief 10 Jan 2022 by Romeo Bernardo

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In the span of one week, new Covid19 cases spiked from a 7-day average of less than 2k as of Jan 2 to over 16k as of Jan 9. In the latest batch of 48 Covid19 cases sequenced, the Philippine Genome Center detected the Omicron variant in 29 of the samples, making it the dominant strain. Although Metro Manila remained under alert level 3, people are observing that traffic has become much lighter, more workers are absent from work due to sickness or covid-like symptoms and certain establishments have opted to temporarily cease operations to keep safe. Google’s mobility data[1] for the first week of January show markedly reduced trips outside residences in Metro Manila. With record breaking daily positivity rates (rising from 20% on January 2 to 44% on January 9), talk is rife of government raising the alert level another notch, which would restrict mobility of the elderly (65 and above) and the young (below 18) and further reduce indoor business, dine-in, recreation and other activities (from 30% of capacity to 10%). So far, the only new measure put in place is to bar unvaccinated individuals from leaving their homes, except for essential activities. All eyes are now trained on healthcare utilization. Although the overall occupancy of ICU beds in Metro Manila, ground zero for Omicron, is still at a manageable 52% based on January 9 data, many healthcare workers have already fallen sick prompting the health department to permit on a case-by-case basis the shortening of isolation and quarantine periods for asymptomatic and fully-vaccinated healthcare workers. Although Metro Manila residents that could afford to do so are likely to voluntarily stay home in the coming weeks kn...