NCR COVID-19 reproduction number down to 0.45, says OCTA

The COVID-19 reproduction number in the National Capital Region went down to 0.45, the OCTA Research group said on Saturday.

This was at 0.57 last October 18.

Reproduction rate refers to the number of people infected by one case. A reproduction number that is below 1 indicates that the transmission of the virus is slowing down.

Meanwhile, the seven-day average of new cases of COVID-19 in NCR decreased to 996, the first time it went below 1,000 since July 22 to 28, OCTA said.

"One week ago it was 1762," OCTA Research fellow Dr. Guido David said on Twitter, noting the 43% decrease.

As for positivity rate -- the percentage of positive test results over the number of conducted tests -- it went down to 7% from 10% a week ago.

The average daily attack rate or the number of new daily cases per 100,000 population also improved to 7.03, down from the 10.23 last Oct. 18.

The Department of Health (DOH) on Friday recorded 5,823 new COVID-19 cases, which brought the nationwide tally to 2,745,889.

Of this number, 66,838 are active; 2,637,531 recovered; while 41,520 died.

DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire on Thursday said NCR may soon be "deescalated" from Alert Level 3 if COVID-19 numbers continue to decrease.

NCR was first placed on Alert Level 4 on September 16 to October 15, then Alert Level 3 from October 16 to 31.

Under Alert Level 3, several establishments will be allowed to operate at 30% indoor venue capacity only for fully vaccinated individuals and 50% outdoor venue capacity, provided that all employees are fully vaccinated. —KG, GMA News