DAVAO CITY — A possible surge in the country’s COVID-19 cases may happen in the middle of May following mammoth crowds drawn by campaign rallies and emergence of Omicron sub-variants in different parts of the world.

During President Rodrigo Duterte’s Talk to the People public address on Tuesday, National Task Force Against COVID-19 chief implementer and vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez, Jr. said the country is closely monitoring three Omicron variants.

“During our regular T3 meeting, (molecular biologist) Father Nick Austriaco presented the emergence of three Omicron variants: two from South Africa and one in the US,” Galvez said.

“He predicted that with these variants, at least one or maybe all of these variants will hit the Philippines,” he added.

According to Galvez, experts have noted that the BA.4 and BA.5 variants of Omicron monitored in South Africa and Europe are emerging variants of concerns that can lead to a global economic downturn and renewed travel restrictions.

He added these variants can cause an uptick in COVID cases in the Philippines in the next two to four weeks as predicted by experts.

As of April 26, only 2,108 individuals have received the second booster shot.

A total of 146,227,002 doses have been administered nationwide. Of this number, 67,640,431 individuals are fully vaccinated. NTF vs COVID-19