NCR COVID-19 cases growth rate climbs to 71% —OCTA

The National Capital Region's COVID-19 cases one-week growth rate climbed to 71%, independent group OCTA Research said Saturday. 

The group said NCR's "7-day average increased from 103 to 176 (as of June 11 to 17), a 71% increase."

"This translates to an ADAR (average daily attack rate) of 1.24," it added. ADAR pertains to the incidence showing the average number of new cases in a period per 100,000 people.

"The NCR reported 282 new cases on June 17, 2022, based on DOH data. With the exception of April 3 (when there was a high number due to possible backlog), this is the highest number of new cases since February 26, 2022," OCTA said.

The coronavirus reproduction number meanwhile also went up to 1.80 in NCR as of June 14, an increase over the 1.40 as of June 7. The 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.

Also climbing up is the positivity rate in the region, now at 3.7%. This refers to the percentage of people who were found positive for COVID-19 among the total number of individuals tested.

OCTA however noted that despite the rise in these metrics in NCR, the hospital bed utilization and ICU utilization rates are still low at 22% and 17%, respectively.

"So far, the numbers we are seeing have been in line with our projections: a weak surge and no escalation of alert levels or restrictions because we expect our healthcare system will be able to manage the relatively low number of hospitalizations," the group said.

OCTA then reminded the public to be responsible, follow health protocols and get COVID-19 booster shots to prevent infection.

The Philippines on Friday registered 539 new COVID-19 cases—a new record high in over two months.

The new infections brought the number of active COVID-19 cases to 3,829, up by a few hundreds from the 3,462 recorded the day before.

The national case load went up to 3,695,068. More patients recovered from the viral disease increasing the country’s recovery tally to 3,630,772.

Meanwhile, the Philippines’ death tally due to COVID-19 climbed to 60,467. —KG, GMA News