MANILA — The Philippines' daily tally of COVID-19 cases might drop to around 5,000 by late February, the OCTA research group said on Tuesday.

Coronavirus infections have peaked or have gone down in "almost all of Luzon”, said OCTA fellow Guido David. He said cases are also starting to decrease in parts of Visayas and Mindanao like Cebu City, Tacloban, Iloilo, and Davao City.

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“Sa mid to late February, sa buong Philippines, ang pino-project natin, bababa [ang mga kaso] to less than 10,000,” said David, a mathematics professor at the University of the Philippines.

“In fact, by late February, I’m expecting baka malapit na sa mga 5,000 cases per day na lang,” he said in a televised public briefing.

(Around mid to late February, in the whole Philippines, we project cases will drop to less than 10,000. In fact, by late February, I’m expecting it might be near to only 5,000 cases per day.)

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The Philippines logged record high daily COVID-19 cases several times in January, driven by the highly contagious omicron variant.

Infections have since dropped, prompting authorities to relax curbs in Metro Manila and several other areas from Tuesday until Feb. 15.

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Authorities continue to remind the public to follow minimum health protocols and get vaccinated against COVID-19.

Video courtesy of PTV