The average number of new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases in Metro Manila was slightly up on Sunday, Sept. 26, possibly due to backlogs, OCTA Research fellow Dr. Guido David said on Monday, Sept. 27.
In a tweet on Monday, David said that Metro Manila averaged 5,653 cases with a one-week growth rate of -15 percent on Sunday.
This is up from 4,220 cases with a one-week growth rate of -20 percent on Saturday.
Moreover, Metro Manila's COVID-19 reproduction number, or the average number of secondary infections by each infected individual, slightly increased to 0.98 from 0.94.
"The reproduction number of 0.98 was within the error range of previous day. A single-day spike does not change the overall trends we are seeing, so let's hope the downtrend continues," David explained.
In the past several days, David pointed out there may still be spikes in new cases in Metro Manila due to some reporting backlog, "but unless the trends change, the daily average in new cases in the NCR should continue to decrease.
OCTA on Sunday said that Metro Manila remains at "high risk" for COVID-19 because while the average daily COVID-19 cases and reproduction number have been consistently decreasing in the past few weeks, the region's positivity rate is still at a "high" level.