MANILA, Philippines — Less than 1,000 new COVID-19 cases were logged in Metro Manila on Saturday afternoon, independent analytics group OCTA Research said Saturday evening.
Citing data released by the Department of Health, OCTA Research fellow Guido David said that of the 3,792 new COVID-19 cases tallied on February 12, just 562 were from Metro Manila.
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David said that the latest increase was still "generally within" OCTA's projections in late January, which see Metro Manila hitting pre-Omicron surge numbers by the end of February.
Only Quezon City recorded more than 100 new cases of the pathogen with 123 new positive patients. Manila, Pasig, and Pasay followed with 82, 46, and 46 new cases in their localities, respectively.
NCR LGUs new cases on February 12, 2022 extracted from https://t.co/GUBv99qV6l. If there are concerns regarding accuracy of data, these should be addressed to DOH. @dzbb @dzrhnews @allangatus @DZAR1026 @NewsRmn @ali_sotto @dwiz882 @PhilstarNews @News5PH @ABSCBNNews @roribabyko pic.twitter.com/GxDKsGtOCN
— Dr. Guido David (@iamguidodavid) February 12, 2022
The 486 cases recorded in the National Capital Region was the lowest recorded daily tally for the year in the region.
Alert Level 1 possible soon
Metro Manila is still classified as being under moderate risk for the coronavirus with the exceptions of Caloocan, Pateros, Navotas, Taguig and Marikina, all of which are now low-risk.
"The NCR remained under moderate risk but is very close to moving down to low risk. Several other LGUs in the NCR are under moderate risk but are close to being classified as low risk," David also said earlier this week.
"At this rate of decrease, if the trends continue, the NCR could have less than 200 new cases per day by the end of February."
To date, the DOH has recorded 3.63 million cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began in March 2020. Saturday saw a 14.3 percent positivity rate out of 32,067 tests.
562 new cases in the NCR Feb 12 2022. Actuals are still generally within the Jan 24 projections. pic.twitter.com/Ah35nMzjtL
— Dr. Guido David (@iamguidodavid) February 12, 2022
Speaking in an interview over DZBB Super Radyo on Sunday morning, Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said that the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases would be meeting on Monday to discuss possibly shifting to a more relaxed Alert Level 1 from February 16 to 28.
The DILG chief said that the average daily attack rate, which refers to the percentage of an at-risk population infected with the virus during a specific time period, is still at 10.5 in Metro Manila. He said that the ADAR before Alert Level 1 can be considered should ideally be at 7.
"When Alert Level 1 is declared, there will only be a minimum public health standard, then everything is possible, 100% of almost all activities...Our healthcare must not be overwhelmed [and] we must study it carefully," he said in Filipino as he admitted that the task force still "doesn't have an answer" as to whether or not the capital region is ready for Alert Level 1.
"According to the DOH, NCR is still at moderate risk and not yet at low risk so we can continue with Alert Level 2 especially since the campaign period has begun."
— Franco Luna