11 NCR areas have sustained increase in COVID-19 cases, but not significant — Vergeire

The Department of Health (DOH) said Wednesday that 11 areas in the National Capital Region (NCR) have recorded a continuous increase in COVID-19 cases.

In a statement, the DOH said that 11 areas had seen an increase in cases in the last one to two weeks (positive one-and-two-week growth rates).

These are the cities of Makati, Parañaque, San Juan, Mandaluyong, Muntinlupa, Las Piñas, Pasig, Manila, Quezon, Marikina, and Valenzuela.

“Despite continued increase, cases remain low with average daily attack rates ranging from less than one case to up to three cases per 100,000 population among these areas,” the DOH said.

“All areas remain with low risk total COVID-19 beds utilization while two areas (Makati and Parañaque) show slight increases in ICU utilization at 50-51% of ICU beds occupied,” it added.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the development was "not that significant," as it has not affected the admission rate in hospitals nor the number of severe and critical cases.

“Ang nakikita natin ngayon (What we are seeing now is), most of the infections are mild and asymptomatic. And, hopefully, it stays that way. But this is no reason for all of us to not be cautious," she said at a media briefing.

Vergeire said more than half of the admissions are mild and asymptomatic.

According to Vergeire, only 498, or 11.3% of total admissions, are severe and critical cases. This is lower by 17% compared to the 599 severe and critical admissions in the previous week.

Meanwhile, the healthcare utilization rate remains at low risk at 16.6% nationally.

The national positivity rate rose to 1.9%, while the average daily attack rate (ADAR) remained less than one per 100,000 people, indicating that the country is still at low risk for COVID-19.

“Wala naman po tayong dapat ipangamba dahil nanatili pa din tayo sa low risk case classification kahit mayroon na pong kaonting pagtaas in the recent one to two weeks,” she said.

(We should not worry because we remain at low-risk case classification despite the slight increase in the recent one to two weeks.)

Alert Level

Vergeire said that for the NCR to be escalated to Alert Level 2, it must be classified as a moderate-risk case classification or have a moderate-risk total bed utilization rate.

For an area to be at moderate risk, it should have a positive two-week growth rate as well as an ADAR of at least 6 per 100,000 population.

At present, Vergeire said NCR has an average of 170 cases per day.

Should its ADAR reach 6, the Health undersecretary said it should record 818 cases per day for two weeks.

“Ang mga lugar na nanatili sa Alert Level 2 ay kadalasang hindi pa naabot ang kanilang vaccination target (areas that remain under Alert Level 2 usually have not yet reached their vaccination target),” she said.

As of June 13, more than 69.8 million Filipinos have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

Almost 9.5 million adolescents aged 12 to 17 and 3.1 million minors aged 5 to 11 have also been fully inoculated against the virus.

Around 14.6 million individuals have received their first dose, and 580,000 individuals have received their second booster dose. — RSJ/VBL, GMA News