MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health's daily COVID-19 report may breach the 1,500-mark on Thursday as the positivity rate in Metro Manila continues to rise, independent think tank and pandemic monitor OCTA Research said.
As of December 28, the National Capital Region's seven-day positivity rate — which refers to the percentage of people who test positive out of all of the tests done in a week — has increased to 3.86%.
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Of the 889 new infections tallied by the DOH in its tally on Wednesday, 572 came from Metro Manila. Cavite and Bulacan came second and third with 30 and 27.
"The positivity rate in the NCR is still increasing, now at 8.4%. This means the projection for the NCR is more than 1000 new cases on December 30," OCTA fellow Guido David said late Wednesday night.
The positivity rate in the NCR is still increasing, now at 8.4%. This means the projection for the NCR is more than 1000 new cases on December 30. Nationwide, there could be 1500 to 2000 new cases. @dzbb @dzrhnews @DZAR1026 @allangatus @News5PH @NewsRmn @dwiz882 @PhilstarNews pic.twitter.com/ClrN1unoyx
— Dr. Guido David (@iamguidodavid) December 29, 2021
"By January 7, the possible worst-case scenario is that we'll reach 8,000 cases [if the rate speeds up]," David also said in Filipino in an interview aired over DZBB Super Radyo Thursday morning.
Manila City, which now has five areas under granular lockdown according to the Manila Police District, had the most cases in the capital region with 191 new infections. Quezon City and Makati City followed with 97 and 38.
Wednesday's positivity rate of 4.5 % out of 27,615 total tests came close to breaching the ideal benchmark of 5% set by the World Health Organization for opening economies.
David earlier said that the increase in cases could just be a temporary uptick linked to the holiday season. But on Wednesday, he remarked that "the increase in new cases in NCR is substantial...More than our projections."
“The best-case scenario is if the uptick will just disappear or the increase in cases will just disappear or plateau,” he also told ONE News' The Big Story.
As it currently stands, all areas in the Philippines are set to remain under Alert Level 2 for the remainder of 2021.
To date, health authorities have recorded 2.84 million coronavirus cases in the Philippines, 9,579 of which are still active cases.
Even with these numbers, though, the Department of Health has said that Filipinos should not yet panic since the country still qualifies as being at "low risk" for infection.
— Franco Luna with a report from ONE News