The Department of Health (DOH) on Friday logged 7,103 new cases of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), which is a new record for this year and since the country started monitoring virus cases daily.

The 7,103 came after the DOH recorded 5,290 Covid-19 cases on Thursday. Friday’s figure also surpassed the previous record of 6,958 logged on August 10, 2020.

The spike in Covid-19 cases on Friday also came after a member of the Octa Research group warned that virus cases nationwide can reach up to 11,000 by end of March if the current trend continues.

Dr. Guido David of OCTA Research also warned that daily Covid-19 cases can reach as much as 16,000 per day by mid April.

Professor Ranjit Rye of Octa Research also said in a press briefing on Friday that any measure to contain the spread of Covid in the country must deliver an impact in reducing Covid-19’s reproduction rate from the current 1.9 to 1.0.

“The purpose of our circuit breaker proposal or you can call it a ‘hard GCQ’, ‘soft ECQ’ or whatever name the government decides to use moving forward, it has to have the impact of reducing the [reproduction rate],” he said.

“Because if we reduce the [reproduction rate], which is now at 1.9, to something like 1 in the next two to four weeks, it’s going to eventually lower infections. It will have a definite impact on hospitalization and deaths,” Rye added.

Under a hard general community quarantine, Octa Research’s recommendations include the issuance of quarantine passes for workers, and discouraging indoor dining in restaurants and social gatherings.