OCTA: Aklan poses 26.9% COVID-19 positivity rate; NCR's up to 10.9%

Aklan province has recorded a 26.9% COVID-19 positivity rate on Saturday, while that of the National Capital Region (NCR) further increased to 10.9%, according to independent monitoring group OCTA Research.

In a tweet, OCTA Research fellow Dr. Guido David showed data that Aklan’s positivity rate went up in a week from 21% on July 2 to 26.9% on July 9.

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

Meanwhile, the positivity rate in NCR also jumped from 8.3% on July 2 to 10.9% on July 9, according to David.

Other areas seen surpassing the 5% benchmark of the World Health Organization on July 9 were Antique, Bataan, Batangas, Benguet, Bulacan, Capiz, Cavite, Cebu, Iloilo, Isabela, Laguna, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Pangasinan, Rizal, and Tarlac.

Aside from Aklan and NCR, David noted that Antique, Batangas, Capiz, Cavite, Iloilo, Isabela, Laguna, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Rizal, and Tarlac all recorded a positivity rate of over 10%.

NCR

At the Laging Handa public briefing on Monday, David said the reproduction rate in the NCR is currently at 1.49, lower than the 1.6 recorded last week.

The reproduction number refers to the number of people infected by one case. A reproduction number below 1 indicates that the transmission of the virus is slowing down.

Meanwhile, he said the average daily attack rate in the region is 4.5.

“Hindi naman siya napakataas, considered low siya (it’s not very high, it’s considered low),” he said.

The healthcare utilization rate (HCUR) of NCR is at 28.4%, which is also very low, according to the OCTA fellow.

“So these are good indicators. Actually hindi lang sa NCR. Pati the rest of the Philippines. Karamihan ng areas ay below 50% naman 'yung hospital utilization and ito 'yung metric na pinakabinabantayan natin,” he said.

(So these are good indicators. Actually, not only in NCR but also in the rest of the Philippines. Most areas have a hospital utilization below 50%, which is what we are monitoring.)

He also said the HCUR in the region would not breach the 50% benchmark.

According to David, cases may peak at around 2,000 per day around mid-July or late July.

Despite this, he maintained that there is no need to raise the alert level.

“Kasi hindi naman nagbago ‘yung trajectory ng wave na ito. Hindi naman siya nag-accelerate. Sa NCR nga as I’ve mentioned, bumagal na nga siya,” he said.

(Because the trajectory of the wave has not changed. It did not accelerate. As I’ve mentioned, cases have already decreased in NCR.)

David earlier said that the number of tests conducted to detect COVID-19 has declined despite the increase in the number of cases in the country.

He said the number of cases being reported on a daily basis would be higher if testing levels were unchanged from that seen in January.

The Philippines on Sunday logged 2,018 new COVID-19 cases, the highest daily tally in nearly five months. This put the country’s active coronavirus case count at 13,818. —KBK/KG, GMA News