OCTA Research sees Cebu City hitting a peak of 1,000 COVID-19 cases by the end of January, its fellow told an online forum on Friday.

''Right now, they are on an increasing trend. It's not yet peaking,'' said Guido David at the Go Negosyo Forum.

''Based on the projections, it will peak at around 1,000 cases sometime by the end of January,'' he added.

''The peak is not end of the wave. We determine the peak and the downward trend so that we can estimate the timeline and when cases can return to fairly normal levels,'' he said.

As of January 18, Cebu City had 500 new cases for a 378 percent increase. The reproduction number was at 4.51.

David said 1,000 cases represents three times the number of cases during the surge of the Delta variant.

''This will be a faster wave compared to the Delta surge so our friends from Cebu would have to brace for this,'' he said.

The reproduction number was about three times higher in Cebu City, indicating that ''the transmission was three times faster compared to the Delta (surge)''

Early this week, Cebu City Mayor Mike Rama signed an executive order stopping unvaccinated persons and children below 11 years from leaving their homes.

Rama said this is the fourth COVID-19 surge that the city is facing. DMS