OCTA: COVID-19 cases in NCR exceed August peak; indicators up

New COVID-19 infections in the National Capital Region (NCR) recorded on Sunday surpassed the peak of new cases in August, as most indicators were seen increasing, independent monitoring group OCTA Research said Monday.

In a tweet, OCTA Research fellow Dr. Guido David said NCR logged 1,600 new COVID-19 cases on September 25, which was higher than last month’s peak of 1,502 new cases reported on August 7.

The one-week growth rate of coronavirus cases in the region also jumped to 25% on Sunday, almost double the 13% reported on September 18.

NCR’s seven-day positivity rate, meanwhile, also went up to 18.5% on September 24, from 15.7% on September 17.

David said the recent positivity rate in NCR also exceeded the positivity rate of 17.5% on August 5.

Positivity rate refers to the percentage of people who were found positive for COVID-19 among the total number of individuals tested.

NCR’s reproduction number or the number of people infected by one case, also climbed from 1.21 on September 15 to 1.30 on September 22.

Despite this, the region’s healthcare utilization for COVID-19 was still “low” at 36%, according to David.

“Cases are expected to increase further, but we expect hospital bed occupancy to remain at low levels,” he added.

David warned last week that NCR may see at least 2,000 new cases per day in October, considering the rising COVID-19 indicators of the region. —Giselle Ombay/KBK, GMA News