OCTA: COVID-19 cases in Metro Manila drop

MANILA, Philippines — The number of COVID-19 cases in the National Capital Region (NCR) continued to decrease over the past week, the OCTA Research group reported yesterday.

Data from the Department of Health showed that the average number of new COVID cases daily in Metro Manila dropped from 807 from Oct. 12 to 18 to 491 from Oct. 19 to 25.

The week-on-week COVID growth rate was at -39 percent, even lower than the -7 percent reported during the previous week.

OCTA fellow Guido David said the number of COVID infections in the NCR went down from as high as 1,719 on Oct. 1.

“In analyzing the trends and available data, it seems that the wave last June in Metro Manila was driven by the Omicron BA.5 subvariant. The subsequent wave from September may have been caused by the XBB or XBC subvariants,” David said.

“Hopefully, the downward trend will continue until the December holidays, but there is uncertainty in the trends because of the presence of other subvariants around the world,” he added.

Based on recent data, OCTA said the COVID reproduction number in the NCR went down further from 0.98 on Oct. 15 to 0.74 on Oct. 25.

The seven-day positivity rate – or the number of people who test positive for COVID out of the total tests conducted – also decreased from 14.6 percent on Oct. 17 to 11.6 percent on Oct. 24.

OCTA said healthcare utilization in Metro Manila decreased from 35 percent to 29 percent as of Oct. 24. The intensive care unit capacity remained at 23 percent.

Voluntary masking  indoors

Meanwhile, the independent research group has yet to issue its position on the government’s plan to make masking voluntary in indoor spaces.

But in a separate statement, OCTA fellow Ranjit Rye expressed hope that the policy changes are based on “science and the best available advice of our health experts.”

“We must bear in mind that COVID is still with us and that we must continue to be vigilant amid the spread of new variants,” Rye told reporters.

He said sensible pandemic management is needed at this time.

Rye expressed hope that whatever changes in masking policy will not contribute to a rise in COVID infections.

On Tuesday, Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco announced the government’s plan to lift the mandatory masking indoors, based on the recommendation of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Infectious Diseases.

President Marcos, who had lifted the mandatory masking in outdoor spaces, has yet to issue an executive order on the proposal.