OCTA fellow: High immunity in Philippines with fewest cases amid highest mobility

The Philippines may already be enjoying a substantial level of immunity to COVID-19 as the country has been recording its lowest number of cases in 20 months while Filipinos have been allowed the highest mobility, an OCTA Research said on Monday.

In his report to President Rodrigo Duterte, Fr. Nicanor Austriaco on Monday said the hospitalization levels in the country had also been improving even with the Delta variant being the most dominant in the country.

Delta is the most infectious variant before the detection in South Africa of the Omicron variant which has yet to be detected in the Philippines.

"We are currently with Delta, the most infectious variant in the past 20 months, the highest mobility in the past 20 months," Austriaco said.

"More and more kababayans are moving around and yet we are experiencing the lowest level of cases and hospitalizations in 20 months," he added.

Austriaco said the Makati Medical Center earlier announced that it had no COVID-19 patient on Monday. He said this was typical to all hospitals in the Philippines.

"What these three mean is that it suggests that we have obtained substantial population immunity from natural infections and vaccination in urban areas of the Philippines," Austriaco said.

Duterte sees miracle

Duterte called  the decline in cases a miracle amid reports that other countries had been suffering from a surge driven by the Omicron variant.

"Christmas na. I hope that everything will be for the good of everybody and  I am very happy na bumababa na talaga, dumadive na talaga," Duterte said.

"That's a miracle because all the other countries... nagkaproblema sa Omicron," he added.

[It's Christmas and I hope that everything will be for the good and I am happy that cases are going down, that they are diving. That's a miracle because all other countries are having problems with Omicron.]

Duterte said he hoped the country could cope with the effects of Omicron, which has yet to be detected in the Philippines.

"Tayo we are not hoping for the best but we pray to God that it (Omicron) will not come to our shores but if ever dumating, we can cope up with it just as we did with COVID-19," Duterte said.

Duterte said he saw "better days ahead." 

"We continue to see a downward trend of positivity rate. Now, only less than 2%, this means that for every 100 persons who tested for COVID-19, only a maximum of two people turned out to be positive," Duterte said. -NB, GMA News