No sustained increase in COVID-19 cases after May 9 elections so far —OCTA

There was no sustained increase in COVID-19 cases monitored a week after the 2022 national and local elections, OCTA Research fellow Dr. Guido David said Monday.

At the Laging Handa public briefing, David said there have been small spikes of infections which eventually declined.

“Wala pa tayong nakikitang increase ng cases doon sa campaign rallies, sorties. February pa tayo nagkaroon ng campaigns, wala pa namang nagkakaroon ng pagtaas ng kaso na talagang sustained,” he said.

(We have not seen an increase in cases from the campaign rallies and sorties. Campaigns have been conducted since February but there was no increase that was really sustained.)

“May nagsasabi na maghintay pa tayo up to two weeks. So far wala pa naman tayong nakikitang indication na may clustering of cases dahil doon sa recent elections natin noong May 9,” he added.

(Some were saying that we have to wait up to two weeks. So far, there is no indication that there is a clustering of cases due to the May 9 polls.)

Over the weekend,  Malacañang announced Metro Manila and other areas will be under Alert Level 1—the loosest form of COVID-19 restrictions—until the end of the month.

David favored maintaining Alert Level 1 in the region and other areas as their group has not seen any threats so far despite the detection of Omicron subvariant BA.2.12.1.

For David, the increase in COVID-19 cases can be considered significant only when the current number of daily cases grows double.—AOL, GMA News