
New cases of Covid-19 in Metro Manila have been declining since Oct. 1, the OCTA Research Group said on Wednesday, Oct. 26.
In an update shared on Twitter, OCTA Research fellow Dr. Guido David said that Metro Manila recorded 1,709 cases of Covid-19 on Oct. 1, based on the Department of Health data.
However, the average of new cases decreased from 807 on Oct. 12-18 to 491 on Oct. 19-25, which translates into a weekly growth rate of negative (-) 39 percent.
The previous one-week growth rate was -7 percent.
Moreover, David said the Covid reproduction number in Metro Manila decreased from 0.98 (Oct. 15) to 0.74 (October 25).
Its seven-day positivity rate also decreased from 14.6 percent (Oct. 17) to 11.6 percent (Oct. 24).
Reproduction number refers to the average number of secondary infections by each infected individual, while positivity rate refers to the number of individuals who yielded positive results from among those who have been tested for Covid-19.
“In analyzing the trends and the available data, it seems that the June 2022 wave in the NCR (National Capital Region) was driven by the Omicron BA.5, while the subsequent wave from September may have been driven by the XBB (or XBC),” David said.
He noted that the healthcare utilization rate in Metro Manila remained low, decreasing to 29 percent, as of Oct. 24, from 35 percent a week ago, while ICU occupancy also remained low at 23 percent.
“Hopefully, the downward trend continues until the December holidays, but there is uncertainty in the trends because of the presence of other subvariants around the world,” David pointed out.