NCR, Calabarzon remain 'low risk' for COVID-19, says OCTA

Despite what it earlier saw as a possible "Valentine spike" in the National Capital Region (NCR), the region remains at low risk classification for COVID-19, OCTA Research said Friday.

Aside from the NCR, provinces in the Calabarzon region -- namely Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon -- are also at low risk classification, OCTA fellow Dr. Guido David said on Twitter, citing indicators.

David said the NCR's positivity rate is at 6% while healthcare utilization is at 26%. Its reproduction number, meanwhile, is at 0.20 while the average daily attack rate (ADAR) is at 3.45.

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.

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

David said NCR and all Calabarzon provinces have less than 10% positivity rate as of February 15.

Local government units in the Philippines are classified by risks based on virus spread and healthcare utilization. These classifications help government, in coming up with policy recommendations in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Thursday, the Philippines recorded 2,196 new COVID-19 cases bringing the nationwide caseload to 3,646,793.

According to the Department of Health's (DOH) latest bulletin, 66,588 active infections were logged, of which 1,090 were asymptomatic; 60,848 were mild; 2,913 were moderate; 1,428 were severe; and 309 were critical.

Among the top regions with cases in the recent two weeks were the NCR with 358 or 17%, followed by Region 6 with 307 or 15% and Region 4-A with 214 or 10%. —KBK, GMA News