The Health Agency reports 655 new cases and 124 new deaths today, with the National Capital Region owning 31.3% (205) of the total cases in the country.

The information provided by the DoH is based on their COVID-19 tracker.

In the NCR, 7 LGUs had double digits with the City of Manila reporting 48 cases followed by Quezon City with 34. The others were: Parañaque 20, Caloocan and Makati with 18 cases each, Pasay City 13 and Taguig 10. All the other LGUs had single digit, with Pateros reporting ZERO COVID.

There were 23,523 individual tested with 3.2% positivity on March 10, 2022.

The Health Agency announces 598 new cases today, with 22178 individuals tested last March 10, 2022. With the targeted testing (only those A1, A2 and A3 are routinely tested) and no contact tracing done anymore, the testing have decreased as well. The World Health Organization provides guidance on interpreting lower cases as it may not reflect the real situation in the country. The numbers are likely underestimated especially if a milder form of the virus is circulating. The disease course is short and those who are fully vaccinated (and received a booster) may even be infected but asymptomatic (hence, not testing).

NCR led the haul with 149 (25%) of the today’s total cases.

Among the LGUs in the NCR, it was Quezon City that had the most cases (30), followed by the City of Manila (26), Makati (20), Taguig (15), Parañaque (12) and Pasay City (10). All other LGUs had single digit cases with Navotas and Pateros having ZERO COVID cases.

The Health Agency announces 592 new cases, 76 deaths and a 3.2% positivity rate today. The positivity rate should be taken with a grain of salt as the country moves into targeted testing. Which means that only A1, A2, and A3 are prioritized and that contact tracing is not routinely performed anymore. This is not only seen in the Philippines but in almost all our Asian neighbors as well.

NCR accounted for 25.7% of the total cases (152) in the country today.

The City of Manila led todays cases in the NCR with 25 cases followed by Quezon City with 23. All other LGUs had less than 20 cases, with 11 LGUs announcing only single digit. The LGUs with single digit were: Makati 7, Parañaque 9, Las Piñas 5, Valenzuela 6, Mandaluyong 5, Muntinlupa 2, Marikina 6, Malabon 1, Navotas 4, San Juan 2, and Pateros 1.

The Health Agency announces 580 new cases today with 110 deaths recorded today and a 3.3% positivity rate.

The data at doh.gov.ph and click on COVID-19 tracker for more information.

NCR accounted for 137 or 24% of the total cases for the day.

Prof. Guido David continues to drill down the data gathered from the COVID19 tracker of the Department of Health and on behalf of OCTA Research shows that the overall risk in the country is generally low.

Several areas in NCR, CALABARZON, Central Luzon, and Central and Western Visayas have continued to see declining numbers with several provinces seeing ADAR of <1.0 per 100,000. Reproduction rates remain very low, with health care utilization rate at very low risk as well. Only some areas remain to have higher ICU rates (but still considered low risk) like Bataan, Batangas, and Iloilo. Positivity rate is generally at an all time low in most regions including the National Capital Region whose positivity rate is at 3%.

If you’re wondering where the data is coming from, you can just go to the doh.gov.ph website and click on COVID19 tracker and you won’t miss the data on the screen. I have shown you how to access the site and where to get more information on COVID-19 cases in the country.

In the red notes is where you click to gather detailed case information. As you scroll down their page, you will also see testing and health care utilization capacity of the country.

NCR accounted for 37% of the total cases in the country today with 164 cases, with the City of Manila leading the LGUs with 40 cases. Other LGUs in NCR with double digits were Quezon City 26, Pasay City 20, Parañaque and Caloocan 13 each, Makati 11 and Pasig 10. All other LGUs reported single digit with Navotas and Pateros reporting ZERO COVID.

With the lower cases in the Philippines (reporting triple digits), the Health Agency has now revised its case bulletin. The infographic below shows three parameters: Healthcare Utilization, Vaccination Accomplishment and the COVID-19 cases.

The data for healthcare utilization and vaccination status is delayed by one day. Which means, as of March 6, 2022, HCUR is at low risk in the country, considering that only 18.4% of the non-ICU bed is used for COVID-19 and 25.7% ICU beds are used for COVID-19. Of the COVID-19 admissions in the country, 16.1% are severe and critical.

Vaccination accomplishment is also displayed. As of March 6, the PH has covered almost 71% of the target population vaccinated, with almost 75% of the senior citizens also vaccinated. On the extreme right, information is provided on the actual number of fully vaccinated individuals (how many were vaccinated within that week) and the number of individuals who have received an additional or booster dose (with the number of those also who received additional doses within that week).

Then of course, is the coup de grace. That’s the COVID-19 cases in the country. As of March 7, there were 6297 cases from March 1-7 (or added on March 1-7). The 7-day average is at 899. Only 3 new cases were severe and critical (0.05% of new cases).

https://doh.gov.ph/covid19tracker

Based on the website of the DoH, the PH officially had 733 cases today (but since 22 are duplicates and they were removed from the total) then 711 is the final total cases for March 7, 2022.

The NCR owned 183 or 26% of the total cases for the day with the City of Manila owning 33 and Quezon City owning 30 cases. In third was Parañaque with 22 cases. All other LGUs reported less than 20 cases while 7 LGUs reported single digit. The single digit LGU were: Caloocan 8, Malabon 3, Mandaluyong 5, Muntinlupa 8, Pasig 9, Valenzuela 3, and Pateros 1. Two LGUs had ZERO COVID-19 – Navotas and San Juan.

Out side of the NCR, NO OTHER REGION had triple digit cases.

Other regions that trailed NCR were: CALABARZON 93, Central Luzon 78, Central Visayas 76 Western Visayas 55 and Davao Region 52. All other regions had less than 50 cases with 5 regions reporting single digit. These single digit regions were: BARMM 3, CARAGA 6, MIMAROPA 2, Bicol 9, and Eastern Visayas 7.

There were 3 ROFs that were positive today.

Today’s positivity rate is 3.3% based on 15873 tested individuals last March 6, 2022.

It’s been a horrible 2021 and the first two months of 2022 looked bleak when the Philippines suffered wave after wave when a new variant of concert sprouted. I anticipate how we the Health Agency will announce the daily numbers beginning tomorrow.

For today, the DoH announces 870 new cases (92% of which are ‘recent’) with the NCR, CALABARZON and Western Visayas leading the regions for most number of cases.

There were 24543 tests done last March 4, with a positivity rate of 3.9%.

This brings the active cases now to lower than 49,000, with more than 91% of them being mild or asymptomatic at the time of testing.

The deaths have now surpassed the 57000 mark with the additional 144 deaths recorded today. Of the deaths added today, 12 occurred in march, 64 in February and 48 last January, or 85% of deaths from January to March 2022 added today. The remaining deaths were from September to December 2021.

The NCR recorded 223 cases today, accounting for 26% of the total cases in the country for the day. The only other region with triple digits was CALABARZON with 129 cases. Western Visayas came in third with 90, followed by Central Visayas with 72 cases. Only one region reported single digit case – BARMM with 9.

There were 10 ROFs positive for COVID-19 today.

In the NCR, the City of Manila had 48 cases followed by Quezon City with 37 and Las Piñas with 26. Makati was in 4th with 22 cases. All other LGUs reported < 20 cases, with 9 LGUs reporting single digit. The LGUs with single digit were: Malabon 2, Mandaluyong 8, Marikina 8, Muntinlupa 3, Navotas 1, San Juan 1, Valenzuela 3, Pateros 2, and Taguig City 8.

THE WEEK IN REVIEW

This week closed with good news. The Philippines finally met the 7-day moving average with triple digits and ends with 952 average daily cases as of March 5, 2022. The deaths were erratic as many backlogs from 2020-2021 started pouring in this week as well. The 7-day average deaths is at 76 deaths/day.

Elsewhere in neighboring Asia, countries which began with managing the pandemic on a high note are now affected with the omicron wave.

Worst hit is Hong Kong with more than 5000/million population new daily cases. Based on a 7-day moving average Hong Kong is averaging 42,000 new daily cases, South Korea at almost 200,000 and Vietnam at 100,000. Indonesia, a country with almost 4x the population of the Philippines is ahead of the PH with 134 cases/M population, while the PH is lowest at around 10/M population.

The effective reproduction rate is a good indicator on how the pandemic is being managed in the respective countries. When reproduction numbers stay at 1.0, this implies that the previous numbers will most likely carry on in the same quantity in the subsequent week. Rt >1 puts the country at highest risk of increasing numbers. For example, Vietnam, South Korea and Thailand still have Rt >1.25. This implies that they have not peaked yet and are most likely to see soaring numbers in the next week.

On the other hand, the PH and Indonesia have Rt at 0.59 and 0.79, respectively. This augurs well for these countries. As the numbers are now lower than other nations in the Asian region, the low Rt allows more elbow room for the numbers to continue to decline. The positivity rate for the Philippines stands at <5% (low risk).

Today is the second to the last day that the Health Agency will be announcing the daily cases and deaths.

There were 941 added today, with 833 (89%) being recent (last two weeks). Over 100 cases included in today’s announcement were backlogs.

Of the close to 27k tests done last March 3, 3.8% were positive.

Top three regions were: NCR, CALABARZON and Central Visayas.

The deaths, however, were recent. Of the 109 deaths announced today, 86% occurred from January to March 2022, with the majority coming in from February.

There were 10 duplicates removed. All were recoveries.

There were 96 cases previously tagged as recoveries but on final validation were actually deaths.

NCR accounted for more than 1/4 (26%) of the total cases today with 245 cases. The was led by the City of Manila with 49 and Quezon City with 43 cases. The only other LGU in NCR with more than 20 cases was Makati with 22. Seven LGUs in Mega Manila had single digit. They were: Malabon 5, Marikina 2, Muntinlupa 3, Navotas 1, San Juan 7, Valenzuela 7, and Pateros 1.

On a regional level, aside from NCR, two other regions reported triple digits. These were CALABARZON with 151 cases and Western Visayas with 110. Two regions report single digit – BARMM 2 and Bicol 5.

There were 9 ROFs positive today.

My last three days of having to blog about the daily new cases. The Health Agency will discontinue its daily reporting on March 7. Today, they announce 853 new cases as the active cases tip toe on the 50K mark. More than 91% of the active cases were asymptomatic or mild at the time of diagnosis.

Of the 853 cases reported today, only 92% occurred recently (last two weeks) with the NCR, CALABARON and Central Visayas reporting the most cases.

Now let’s drill down to the 232 deaths announced today.

Only 5 (2%) occurred in March, 17 (7%) in February and 16 (7%) last January 2022. Where did the 84% of deaths come from? From 2020 – 2021.

In 2020 the following deaths were recorded for the corresponding month: July (2), August (6), September (5), October (4), November (7), December (1).

In 2021, the following deaths were recorded for the corresponding month: January (1), February (4), March (31), April (20), May (14), June (7), July (9), August (22), September (36), October (18), and November (7).

As additional side note, 11 duplicates were removed from the total case count, of whom 5 were recoveries.

Two hundred nineteen cases previously tagged as recoveries (wayyyy back in 2020) were discovered to have died and tagged as such after final validation (which makes you wonder how many more tagged as recoveries actually died?).

NCR accounted for 22% of the daily cases with 185 added today. The only other region with triple digits was CALABARZON with 133 cases. All other regions reported double digits except for CARAGA that had only 3 cases today. Western Visayas had 93, Central Visayas 99 and Central Luzon 75 cases. All other regions with double digits had less than 50 cases.

In the NCR, of the 17 LGUs, 10 LGUs continued to report single digit cases, while the remaining had double digits.

Those with single digit number were: Caloocan 9, Malabon 1, Mandaluyong 9, Marikina 6, Muntinlupa 4, Navotas 3, Pasig 4, San Juan 1, Valenzuela 9 and Pateros 2. The LGUs that led in Mega Manila were: City of Manila 33, and Pasay City tying with Quezon City with 23 cases apiece. The rest of the LGUs had more than 10 but less than 20 cases.

There were 11 ROFs that reported positive today.

With triple digits being recorded the past days, the Philippines continued the decline in daily new cases as the Health Agency announces 989 new cases today. There were a little more than 27000 tests with a positivity rate of 4.5% last March 1. Of the 989 cases today, only 89% are ‘fresh’ (last 2 weeks) with the NCR, CALABARZON and Central Visayas topping the regions with most cases.

The active cases are down to a little more than 50,000 and more than 91% were mild or asymptomatic at the time of testing.

There are 34 additional deaths. Of these 41% or 14 occurred in January and February 2022. The remaining 59% dated all the way back to April 2020. As a matter of fact, three deaths were from 2020 – April, September and November.

There were 4 duplicates removed from the total case count, 3 of who were recoveries.

There were 26 cases previously tagged as recoveries but after final validation, were deaths.

NCR continued to account for approximately 20% of the total cases in the country with 203 cases today. Three other regions had triple digits: CALABARZON 128, Western Visayas 128 and Central Visayas 117. The rest had double digit cases, while BARMM continued its single digit streak with 7 cases today.

In Mega Manila, Quezon City led the LGUs with 44 cases, followed by the City of Manila with 39. All other LGUs reported less than 20 cases, with ten LGUs reporting single digit. The latter were: Las Piñas 8, Malabon 5, Mandaluyong 4, Marikina 9, Muntinlupa 4, Navotas 3, Pasig 9, San Juan 1, Valenzuela 5, and Pateros 1.

As the PH continued its decline in cases, other neighboring Asian nations are suffering from the whiplash of the omicron wave, most especially in countries that have not had to experience the various alphabetical waves of SARS-CoV-2. With South Korea hitting more than 200,000 cases and Vietnam surpassing 100,000 cases in a day, the Philippine moves down from 21st rank in the world to 23rd rank and will most likely continue this decline as other countries in Asia and Australia continue to battle with omicron.