It is after all a Tuesday. We expect lower cases.
The Health Agency reports 16,361 new cases. This was enough to push the total cases in the country past the 2.4M mark.
With 48,262 tests done September 19, the positivity rate was at 27%.
A total of 140 new deaths were announced today. The case fatality ratio for outcomes is lower at 1.68%.
Based on the data of the Department of Health (which was placed into better perspective by Prof. Guido David for the OCTA Research Group), the hospital beds in the NCR have already reached its maximum allowable utilization based on the healthcare worker capacity of the facilities. Hospital bed occupancy has slightly increased when comparing the April vs the August/September 2021 surge.
What stood out, however, was the ICU bed occupancy in Mega Manila. Notice that in the April surge, the highest ICU bed occupancy rate was in May. The August/September surge is a different story altogether by almost 50% more compared to the peak occupancy rate last May 2021.
NCR averaged less than expected accounting for around 20% of the total cases today. The region that saw a dramatic rise for the day were Ilocos Region and Cagayan Valley. Both regions took third and fourth places respectively. Together with CAR, these three regions accounted for 26% of today’s cases. The 12 remaining regions in the country all reported triple digits.
In an unusual day, it was the province of Rizal that led on a provincial level followed by many provinces in the north: Pangasinan, Isabela, and Benguet.
With the rise in cases in the provinces, only 8 of the 17 LGUs in NCR were among the top 20 cities/LGUs with most cases. Four LGUs were from CALABARZON. Davao City, Baguio City, San Fernando City (La Union) and the city of Cauayan (Cagayan) were in the top list.
Relative Joy 