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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider OCTA: 1-week ECQ not enough to bring down hospital utilization in NCR+

OCTA: 1-week ECQ not enough to bring down hospital utilization in NCR+

Published Mar 30, 2021 11:04 am

An expert from the OCTA Research Team said a one-week Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) is not enough to bring down hospital utilization rate in the National Capital Region Plus (NCR+).

(JANSEN ROMERO / MANILA BULLETIN)

OCTA fellow Dr. David Guido said that while there has been a “significant decrease” in the reproduction number in Metro Manila, cases are still increasing.

Guido said the reproduction rate in Metro Manila went down from 2.05 last week to 1.86.

“We’re expecting na bababa yung reproduction number by the end of the week. Baka nasa 1.4 na lang siya or 1.3 (We're expecting the reproduction rate to go down by 1.4 or 1.3 by the end of the week),” Guido told Unang Balita.

The expert, however, clarified that as long as the reproduction rate is greater than one, the number of cases will continue to rise.

"Kulang pa rin yung one week para sa mga hospitals natin (One week is still not enough for our hospitals)," he said.

"The fact na tumataas yung number it means mas marami pa rin ang mangangailangan ng hospital care at puno pa rin ang hospitals natin (The fact that the number is still increasing, there would still be a lot who will be needing hospital care and our hospitals will continue to be full)," he added.

David said an additional one or two weeks of ECQ or Modified ECQ (MECQ) can help bring down the utilization rate in hospitals, depending on how fast the reproduction rate in NCR will decrease.

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