MANILA, Philippines — The case fatality rate in Metro Manila is now nearly three times higher than in March, an independent panel of experts studying the COVID-19 crisis in the country said Wednesday.
Members of the OCTA Research team in a report said the proportion of persons dying from COVID-19 in the National Capital Region is now at 5.36% against the 1.82% last month.
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"While the more recent CFR is based on a much smaller sample size of 284 deaths, and the CFR may still decrease as more data comes in, the possibility of an increase in CFR should not be ignored," the group said.
Per a tracker by the Department of Health, the capital region continued to tally the highest number of deaths in the last two weeks compared with other regions in the country.
By April 13, it showed Metro Manila with 311 fatalities, Central Luzon with 162 and CALABARZON with 142. The City of Manila accounted for 73 of those deaths, followed by Quezon City with 66, and Pasig with 41.
Experts attributed the rise to factors such as an already overwhelmed health care system, as well as the presence of COVID-19 variants which they said could be more deadly.
More of the elderly are dying, they also said, at 28.6% of patients 65 and above. This is up from 11.8% in March. Deaths among 60-64-year-olds are at 16.4% from 5.7%, while the deaths among those 50 to 59 are at 8.7% from an earlier 2.7%.
OCTA said senior citizens should be prioritized on getting medical care "to be assured they receive timely interventions."
"Seniors who have not applied for vaccination should strongly reconsider getting inoculated," the experts added, "given that the risk of mortality due to COVID-19 is much higher than the risk of complications due to vaccines."
Individuals belonging to groups vulnerable to the virus should also strictly follow public health standards, and "exercise extreme caution especially in public areas to avoid COVID-19 infection."
To date, the overall number of deaths in the country from the disease stood at 15,286 by April 14. DOH last week also logged the highest number of new fatalities since the pandemic hit at 401 on April 9.
The Philippines has also continued to see a significant increase in daily infections, with its total count now at 884,783.