Is Covid-19 making a comeback?

How prepared is the world for another pandemic

- DR. EDSEL MAURICE T. SALVANA

As often happens when there is an increase in Covid-19 cases here or in other parts of the world, my phone and messaging apps get deluged with questions on whether this is yet another doomsday scenario.

Apparently, Singapore, Thailand, and Hong Kong were reporting thousands of new SARS-CoV-2 infections, and there were the usual viral messages urging people to be careful and to wear masks. I've lost track of how many of these messages have been sent to me for vetting, and the answer is always the same: No, there is no new deadly SARS-CoV-2 variant, and the increase in cases is likely still SARS-CoV-2 trying to find its niche with seasonal respiratory viruses such as influenza and RSV (respiratory syncytial virus).

A quick look through more sedate reports clearly shows that the spike in cases has not resulted in hospitals overflowing with admissions or in unusually high numbers of severe cases or deaths. Similar to the flu season, when there is a rise in the number of respiratory illnesses, the number of tests done naturally increases. Therefore, the number of positive cases also increases because these get detected. Very few people get tested for Covid-19 nowadays in the Philippines since testing cost remains out of pocket, but in other countries public health officials regularly do surveillance and require hospitals to test and report the numbers to them. Naturally, there is no parallel increase locally although a quick eyeballing does show that there are a lot of people coughing and screening. At least some of those cases will be Covid-19, but they are not likely to get tested unless they end up with severe disease in the hospital or if they voluntarily test themselves.