Weekly COVID-19 cases down by 15%

MANILA, Philippines — The weekly average of new COVID cases in the country has gone down by 15 percent, independent monitoring group OCTA Research said yesterday.

“The number of new COVID-19 cases in the Philippines decreased to 2,959 or less than 3,000 per day as of Aug. 27, a decrease of 15 percent from the previous week’s average of 3,487,” OCTA Research fellow Guido David posted on Twitter.

David said the seven-day average was at its highest with 4,071 two weeks ago, while the current average daily attack rate, or the average number of new cases during a certain period per 100,000 people, is 2.69 – considered low.

The reproduction number decreased to 0.91 as of Aug. 24 from 0.96 on Aug. 17.

The positivity rate also decreased from 16.2 percent to 14.3 percent as of Aug. 26.

“If current trends in the growth rate hold, this projects to less than 1,000 cases per day nationwide by mid-September and less than 500 per day by end of September,” David said.

The Department of Health (DOH) said COVID-19 cases in the country including those in the National Capital Region (NCR) are on a decline.

This daily decline is being sustained in the national level and in NCR. Only Mindanao is still seeing increasing numbers while the Visayas is on a plateau.

The rest of the country shows a downward trend.

The DOH yesterday recorded 2,318 new COVID infections, bringing the nationwide tally to 3,874,641. – Mayen Jaymalin