OCTA: NCR weekly COVID-19 positivity rate decreases to 15.3%

The weekly COVID-19 positivity rate of the National Capital Region has decreased to 15.3%, independent monitoring group OCTA Research said Friday.

In a tweet, OCTA fellow Guido David said the region’s positivity rate decreased to 15.3% as of August 17 from 17.2% on August 10.

The positivity rate refers to the percentage of people who were found positive for COVID-19 among the total number of individuals tested.

According to David, the one-week growth rate of the region was also at -8%.

Meanwhile, the reproduction number or the number of people infected by one case was at 1.01. A reproduction number that is below 1 indicates the transmission of the virus is slowing down.

Despite this, the healthcare utilization rate in NCR rose to 40% from 36% while the ICU occupancy rate also increased to 36% from 33%.

On Thursday, David said the number of COVID-19 infections in the region is on a downward trend. He said NCR remains at moderate risk for COVID-19.

The Philippines logged on Thursday a total of 3,844,708 confirmed cases, of which 36,115 are active.—AOL, GMA News