“A slight upward trend” in coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) cases in Metro Manila, one of the country’s coronavirus hot spots, has been observed by an independent research group monitoring the pandemic.

“The overall trend in the Philippines and the NCR (National Capital Region) is flat, [that is], no major upward or downward movement,” a report released on Saturday by the OCTA Research Team said.

“Over the past seven days (Feb. 13 to Feb. 19), the NCR had an average of 430 modern Covid-19 cases per day, up 16 percent from the past week’s normal of 370 unused cases per day,” OCTA added.

The report also indicated that “Pasay City nearly doubled its daily report of new cases compared to the previous week, with an average of 44 new Covid-19 cases per day.”

For its part, the Pasay City government said it has imposed a strict lockdown on 33 barangays for two weeks beginning last Friday.

OCTA said it could not rule out the chance that a “SARS-Cov-2 variant is involved in the sudden spikes,” of Covid cases, referring to a new variant that is more infectious that may have entered the country.

The research group’s findings were revealed amid the government considering placing the whole country under the least restrictive modified general community quarantine (MGCQ), possibly starting March 1. ARIZ RODIL