There is a possibility that Metro Manila may remain under Alert Level 4 status based on the current metrics of the Department of Health (DOH), its official said Monday, Sept. 27.
DOH Epidemiology Bureau Director Dr. Alethea De Guzman said the National Capital Region (NCR) is currently under “moderate-risk” case classification for coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
During the Palace briefing, De Guzman reported that there was a “sudden downward” trend in the number of reported cases in the metropolis.
Based on her report, the average daily reported cases in NCR from Sept. 20 to 26 averaged at 4,347, a decrease of 16 percent compared to the previous 5,145 cases from Sept. 13 to 19.
Moreover, De Guzman said that NCR’s latest two-week growth rate stood at negative 13 percent.
“Kung ito pong mga numerong ‘to ng NCR ang ating pagbabasehan, tayo po ay posibleng manatili pa sa Alert Level 4 (If these numbers of NCR are our basis, we will probably remain at Alert Level 4),” she said.
“Subalit, ang mga metrics natin at ang ating mga numero ay tuloy-tuloy nating pag-aaralan (However, we will continue to analyze our metrics and our numbers),” she added.
Metro Manila was placed under Alert Level 4 starting Sept. 16 until Sept. 30.
Alert levels
De Guzman said the DOH will announce on Oct. 1 whether to retain or modify the alert level classification in Metro Manila.
“On October 1, there will be an announcement kung tayo ba maiiwan sa Alert Level 4 or tayo ba ay makakapagde-escalate na to Alert Level 3 (whether we will remain at Alert Level 4 or will we be able to deescalate to Alert Level 3),” she said.
The DOH will now determine the alert level to be imposed in Metro Manila, according to Presidential spokesman Harry Roque.
Health systems capacity
According to the DOH official, the region’s bed utilization for COVID-19 patients was at moderate-risk level at 63.04 percent.
On the other hand, its Intensive Care Unit (ICU) occupancy remain at high-risk classification at 76.22 percent.
She noted that the region’s reproduction number and growth rate in cases are slowing down.
Testing drops
The health official reported that the number of individuals tested in the metropolis declined over the past week.
From 267,636 individuals tested in the previous week, the testing output in the NCR decreased by at least 33,000 tests to reach 233,967 in the recent week.
The number of samples tested also declined by at least 37,000—from 285,589 samples tested in the previous week to 248,105 samples tested in the recent week.