NCR still at ‘low risk’ for COVID-19 – OCTA

MANILA, Philippines — The National Capital Region (NCR) remained at low risk for COVID-19, with the OCTA Research group projecting the number of new cases to drop to less than 100 per day by the end of the month.

OCTA fellow Guido David said the region’s positivity rate, which measures the number of positive results out of the total tests conducted, dropped from 9.5 percent to 7.8 percent as of Nov. 7.

He also projected that the positivity rate will drop to less than five percent, the standard set by the World Health Organization, by the end of the month.

Data from the Department of Health showed that the NCR reported an average of 221 new cases per day from Nov. 2 to 8, down from the average of 308 daily new cases the prior week.

David said the average daily attack rate in the region went down to 1.54 daily new cases per 100,000 people.

The NCR’s reproduction number remained low at 0.75 as of Nov. 5, while health care utilization was at low 26 percent as of Nov. 7.

OCTA fellow and molecular biologist Fr. Nicanor Austriaco earlier said the country may have a “happy Christmas” based on present trends.

Cases surged last June and September, supposedly due to the Omicron subvariants BA.5 and XBB/XBC, respectively.

The government has since eased health protocols, including mask mandates in outdoor and indoor settings.