Metro Manila shows increase in positivity rate, COVID-19 cases - DOH


An increase in the positive growth rate of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases was observed in the National Capital Region (NCR) in the recent week, the Department of Health (DOH) said on Monday, Dec. 27.

Crowd at flea market.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a DOH press briefing that NCR showed a positive growth in cases in the recent week from Dec. 20 to 26 at 49 percent. She added that the daily cases in the recent week showed an increase of 38 or 49 percent cases from the previous week, now averaging 115 cases per day.

It was only averaging 77 cases per day from Dec. 13 to 19, according to the data presented by DOH.

"This slight increase in cases was evident in the bar graph for daily reported cases and the lines representing the seven-day moving average was on an upward trend," Vergeire said.

"Mayroon ho tayong nakikitang uptick ng kaso pero it's not significant enough yet but it is an alarm, it is a warning for us that cases might start to increase so kailangan magtulong-tulong po tayo lahat ngayon (We are seeing an uptick in cases now but it's not significant enough yet but it's an alarm, it is a warning for us that cases might start to increase so we need to help each other out)," she added.

Meanwhile, Vergeire in the historical positivity rate per region based on the patient's address, as of Dec. 25, DOH observed that the positivity rate across all regions remains to be less than five percent. They noted however, that in the recent week an increase in positivity rate was observed in the NCR and Region IV-A compared to the week prior.

"The NCR now has a rate of 1.5 percent versus .7 percent in the previous week's. Region IV-A (Calabarzon) currently at .9 percent in the recent week, versus .6 percent in the week prior. Also the national positivity rate is higher at 1.3 percent in the recent week, versus the .9 percent reported in the previous week," Vergeire said.

On the other hand, she stated that the epidemic curves of the major island groups and the NCR plus areas all remain to have a flat case trend since the start of December.

She also mentioned that all areas have both total COVID-19 beds and Intensive Care Unit (ICU) bed utilization at low-risk but NCR and Region IX showed positive one week growth rates. In NCR, the total bed admissions showed a slight increase in the recent weeks but its bed utilization remains at low-risk category with only 18 percent of beds occupied.

Similar to the total bed admissions, ICU admissions showed a slight uptick in the recent week, according to Vergeire, but ICU utilization remains at low risk overall at 21 percent capacity.

She added that NCR remains at minimal risk case classification with a negative two week growth rate and an average daily attack rate of .69 per 100,000 population.

"Hopefully it is not variant-driven...Nakikita ho natin na yung mobility natin ngayon ay mataas kumpara po sa mga previous weeks natin dahil nga po sa holiday season (We are seeing that mobility now has increased compared to previous weeks beacause of the holiday season)," Vergeire said.