MANILA, Philippines — Metro Manila is now classified as “low-risk” area for COVID-19 as infections continue to go down, the Department of Health said Wednesday.
DOH Epidemiology Bureau Director Alethea De Guzman said the number of cases in the capital region decreased by 23% in the last two weeks.
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The average daily attack rate (ADAR) of Metro Manila dropped to 5.7 from 7.43, De Guzman added. ADAR refers to the number of new cases in an area over a two-week period, divided by the population there.
The average daily cases in Metro Manila decreased to 685 from June 16 to 22. It was lower than the average of 825 new cases per day from June 9 to 15.
De Guzman said the capital region is “exhibiting a slow decline after a plateau.”
“The goal now is to push it down even further so that we reach our pre-enhanced community quarantine levels of less than 500 [cases],” she said.
Metro Manila was placed under stricter lockdown in March along with four nearby provinces. The government has since put it under general community quarantine, where various restrictions has been eased.
Plateauing trend
Meanwhile, Caraga, Davao region and Soccsksargen in Mindanao; and Western Visayas are classified as “high-risk” areas due to high average daily attack areas
The health official said that while there are some improvements in the critical care capacity of areas in Visayas and Mindanao, utilization is still reaching high to critical risk levels.
Nationally, COVID-19 numbers are exhibiting a “plateauing trend” but there are “signs of slow increase,” De Guzman.
The Philippines has so far reported over 1.36 million COVID-19 cases, including 23,809 deaths. Of the total, 3.9% are active cases.