The daily growth rate of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Metro Manila has further decreased to two percent, indicating two possible scenarios: the number of infections in the region is close to peak or that the trend of new cases is limited by the testing capacity, an OCTA Research fellow said on Sunday, Jan. 16.
“The growth rate of the seven-day average was two percent, compared to three percent from the previous day. The decrease in growth rate could have two possibilities: the trend of new cases in the National Capital Region (NCR) is close to peak, or new cases in the NCR are limited by the testing capacity,” said Dr. Guido David, an OCTA Research fellow in a Twitter post.
David added that the scenarios would be confirmed in the coming days when cases were tallied.
“If new cases start to decrease in the NCR over the next week, then it is the first case. In the second case, we will see the number of new cases continue to hover around the same level until the downward trend happens,” David added.
The country logged its so-far highest single-day tally of new cases on Jan. 15 with 39,004 new infections. According to the Department of Health (DOH), the NCR, CALABARZON, and Central Luzon were among the top regions with the most number of new cases reported.