Health Secretary Francisco Duque said the rate of increase of COVID-19 cases has gone down but it is still premature to say the peak has been reached.

''It is possible that the peak has been reached but it could be premature. We have to wait and see if there is a clear trend because daily cases are still around 30,000,'' said Duque in an interview at dzBB Tuesday.

Two days ago, the Department of Health said a record 39, 004 new COVID-19 case was reached. Active cases, which are net of death and recoveries, went up to a new mark of 290, 938 on Monday.

Duque said at the start of the surge early January cases doubled ''every one or two days.''

''Now, we are seeing it takes longer to see cases doubling. I hope this will be the start of decline like South Africa which saw cases going down after four weeks,'' said Duque.

Duque said due to the vaccination program less than one percent of cases are severe and critical out of the 290, 938 active cases. DMS