OCTA Research: Daily new COVID-19 cases in Metro Manila soar to 900

Metro Manila averaged over 900 new COVID-19 cases per day over the past week, a 50% increase from the previous week and a 119% rise from two weeks ago, the OCTA Research group said Friday.

In its latest monitoring report, the independent team of experts said the reproduction number in Metro Manila rose to 1.47 while the positivity rate reached an average of 7% over the past week.

A reproduction number of 1 or higher indicates sustained COVID-19 transmission. The World Health Organization’s benchmark for positivity rates, meanwhile, is 5%.

“While the South African SARS-CoV-2 B.1.351 variant was identified in Pasay, it is not yet known how prevalent the variant is in the NCR,” the experts said.

Despite the rise in daily new cases, hospital occupancy in the capital region remained low at 41%, OCTA said.   

Out of the 584,667 COVID-19 cases in the Philippines as of Thursday afternoon, 239,113 are in Metro Manila. Of this number, 220,774 have recovered while 4,794 have died.

Pasay City flagged

OCTA said Pasay averaged 150 new COVID-19 cases daily over the past week and logged a reproduction number of 1.83.

“This is the highest average daily new cases reported by the city in its history, even higher than what Pasay had back in July to August 2020,” it said.

The experts also flagged Barangay 76 in Pasay as a COVID-19 hotspot after it recorded 128 new cases in just one week, or “an average of 18 per day, higher than the daily numbers reported in Muntinlupa, San Juan and Pateros.”

Nearby barangays that also registered a high number of new infections included Barangays 59, 70, and 36 in Pasay and Barangays Baclaran and Tambo in Parañaque.

“The objective is to prevent [the] spread of the virus from these clusters of barangays to the rest of the NCR in order to quickly reverse the pandemic surge that is happening now in parts of the NCR,” OCTA said.

Other areas

Meanwhile, the experts said the number of new COVID-19 cases in Cebu City dropped for the first time, indicating that the upward trend in the area has “reversed.”

In Davao City where infections are still on a downtrend, the positivity rate has also decreased to 5%.

In contrast, slight case increases were recorded in the cities of Lapu-Lapu and Mandaue in Cebu province.

The OCTA group also said nearly all Metro Manila cities showed an increase in infections.

In Baguio City, experts noted a “renewed uptick” in new COVID-19 cases.

“However, the high positivity rate suggests a possible spike in new cases in CAR,” they said.

The Philippines has so far recorded six cases of the South Africa variant, 87 UK variant cases, and 34 cases with two mutations of concern. — RSJ/KBK, GMA News