NCR COVID-19 positivity rate climbs to 11.9% –OCTA

The COVID-19 positivity rate in the National Capital Region (NCR) climbed to 11.9%, independent group OCTA Research reported on Friday.

In a tweet, OCTA research fellow Dr. Guido David said the NCR COVID-19 positivity rate increased from 9.4% on November 23 to 11.9% on November 30.

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

“This rate of increase in the positivity rate in the NCR is around the same rate of increase during the Omicron BA.5 wave (from June) and the XBB (from September). This projects to a December BQ.1 wave similar to the BA.5 and XBB waves,” David said.

BQ.1 is a sublineage of the highly transmissible BA.5 subvariant.

Citing results of the latest genome sequencing, the DOH earlier reported that at least 14 cases of BQ.1 had been detected in the Philippines.

Of the 14 cases, 13 were local cases from the Cordillera Administrative Region, Regions 1, 4A, 7, and National Capital Region (NCR), the DOH said.

David, meanwhile, said the reproduction number in the NCR increased from 1.11 on November 21 to 1.32 on November 28.

The reproduction rate 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.

The OCTA research fellow said the weekly new cases increased from a seven-day average of 264 on November 24 to 411 on December 1, with a one-week growth rate of 56%.

He said the average daily attack rate (ADAR) in the region increased to 2.85 per 100,000 population.

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

“Hospital utilization in the NCR remained low but did register an increase from 26% on November 23 to 28% on November 30,” he added.

The DOH logged 1,238 new COVID-19 infections nationwide on Thursday, as the active tally increased to 18,412.

This came after two straight days of fewer than 1,000 cases being reported.

Based on the DOH’s data, the active tally climbed from 18,043 on Wednesday. — DVM, GMA Integrated News