MANILA, Philippines — The average new COVID-19 cases per day in Metro Manila has decreased by 30% to just 1,644 new infections over the past week, the independent OCTA Research said in its bulletin released Saturday.
OCTA Research also noted that the reproduction number, or the estimated number of people who would be infected by a person with the coronavirus, in Metro Manila decreased to 0.57.
Meanwhile, it said that the positivity rate, which refers to the percentage of coronavirus tests which turn out positive, also fell to 12%, although this is still far above the ideal 5% positivity rate set by the World Health Organization.
The research group also found that the average daily attack rate, or the percentage of a population that gets infected with the disease, decreased to below 12 infections for every 100,000 people.
The cities of Navotas, Malabon, Manila and Caloocan, it added, can now be classified as moderate risk areas as their average daily attack rates have fallen below 10 infections for every 100,000 people.
According to OCTA, Navotas has the lowest average daily attack rate in Metro Manila with just 5.99 infections for every 100,000 people, while Pateros has the highest average daily attack rate with 32.35 infections for every 100,000 people.
Taguig, meanwhile, posted the largest drop in COVID-19 cases in Metro Manila, with the city recording a 57% decrease in new daily infections.
Metro Manila, along with Cavite, Rizal and Bulacan, shifted Saturday to the laxer general community quarantine albeit “with heightened restrictions” that include allowing only essential travel to and from these areas.
The change in quarantine regimes happened as COVID-19 cases trended downwards nationwide, but also in the face of the detection of a more infectious coronavirus variant first identified in India. — Xave Gregorio