NCR COVID-19 positivity rate dips to 17.9% –OCTA

The seven-day COVID-19 positivity rate in the National Capital Region (NCR) decreased to 17.9% from the previous 19.1%, independent monitoring group OCTA Research said Monday.

OCTA fellow Dr. Guido David reported that NCR’s positivity rate went down to 17.9% on October 8, from its peak of 19.1% on October 1.

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

NCR’s reproduction number, meanwhile, also slightly decreased from 1.10 on September 29 to 0.99 on October 6.

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.

The one-week average of new COVID-19 infections in the region also dropped from 1,057 on October 2 to 863 on October 9. This translated to a one-week growth rate of -18%.

NCR’s average daily attack rate (ADAR), on the other hand, also declined to 5.99 per 100,000 population, and is considered low, according to David.

ADAR pertains to the incidence showing the average number of new cases in a period per 100,000 people.

Both the healthcare utilization for COVID-19 in NCR and its intensive care unit (ICU) occupancy also remained low at 36% and 28%, respectively, as of October 8.

“We hope that cases in the NCR continue to decrease, but with the new sub variants coming in, a wall of immunity that is not solid, and the increasing numbers in other parts of the country, we might expect to see more ups and downs in new COVID cases towards the end of the year,” David said.

Based on the DOH’s national COVID-19 vaccination dashboard, at least 73.2 million Filipinos are now fully vaccinated against COVID-19, while 20 million have received their booster shots.—AOL, GMA News