The long Holy Week holiday is over. It’s back to work.

The Health Agency announces 365 new cases (highest we’ve had for awhile) with 8 additional deaths. Today’s number are more than 100% of yesterday’s cases. There were also more individuals tested on April 19 (25,746) compared to the previous day of around 12,500.

The NCR accounted for 34% of today’s report, with 6 LGUs reporting double digits. They were: City of Manila 20, Quezon City 16, Parañaque 15, Pasay City 12, and Taguig and Caloocan City with 11 cases each. While the rest of the LGUs in NCR report single digit, two LGUs managed to have zero covid – Pateros and Navotas.

Outside of NCR, double digit numbers were from the following provinces/HUCs (highly urbanized cities): Cavite 21, Batangas 13, Iloilo 14 (12 province, 2 city), General Santos City 12, and Zamboanga City 13.

This is not a time for complacency. You do not wait for the storm to get vaccinated.

The Health Agency reports 158 new cases and 6 added deaths today.

The NCR had 69 cases (44%) today. Only two LGUs in NCR reported double digits, but it was Pasay City that led the pack with 24 cases. An all time high. The city also has the highest ADAR in the NCR at 2.86 per 100,000 population. Taguig had 10 cases. All the other LGUs reported single digits with five LGUs reporting zero covid. Those with zero covid were: Pasig, Valenzuela, Muntinlupa, Malabon and Navotas.

Outside of NCR, Cavite was the only province with double digits at 11 cases, while Davao City was the only HUC (highly urbanized city) with 14.

The Health Agency announces 1,674 additional cases for the week of April 11-17, 2022, bringing the daily average cases to 239. This is 12% lower than the previous week. Unfortunately, 200 deaths were added to this week with 43 being recent (occurring April 4-17), while the majority were considered backlogs.

Hospital bed utilization as well as ICU utilization was at very low risk. There are currently 664 severe and critical COVID19 cases.

Vaccination is at an all time low, considering the Holy Week where people flocked to their home provinces instead of the vaccination sites. The over-all coverage for the Philippines stands at 74.25% of the eligible population to get vaccinated, while the A2 (senior citizen) is also at a stand still at 76.14%. For the week April 11-17, only 202,000 were added to the fully vaccinated group, while only 164,407 availed of the first booster or additional dose.

While the long holiday most likely affected the number of daily cases, the NCR accounted for almost half the total cases today.

The Health Agency announced 170 new cases for April 18, with 9 added deaths. Mega Manila had 81 cases. Three LGUs in NCR had double digits. They were: Parañaque 16, Quezon City 11, and Manila 10. The rest had single digit numbers with four LGUs reporting zero covid. The zero covid LGUs in NCR were: Pateros, Malabon, Marikina and Valenzuela.

Outside of NCR, only one province had double digit cases – Iloilo province with 10. There were no reported cases in Iloilo city.

It was predicted AND expected that the Holy Week would usher in less cases as many testing centers are closed for the long holiday.

Nevertheless, the Health Agency reports 195 new cases and 5 additional deaths on Easter Sunday.

The NCR accounted for 37% of the total cases with 72 cases. This was led by four LGUs with double digits – Makati and Pasay City with 12 apiece, City of Manila 11 and Quezon City 10. While the rest of the LGUs in Mega Manila reported single digit numbers, Valenzuela, Pateros, Pasig and San Juan had zero covid.

Outside of NCR, the following provinces had double digit numbers: Cavite 14, and Rizal 10

THE WEEK IN REVIEW

The Philippines continued to slow down in the decline as the reproduction number stood at 0.76 (+/- 0.05). This meant that even if the country was still seeing COVID19 cases, the numbers are at a trough. The 7-day average of the country is around 260 new daily cases (which is an under report considering that many who may have mild illnesses do not get tested anymore).

The erratic reports on death has managed to slow down the number of cases attributable to deaths due to COVID19. We will know tomorrow from the Health Agency as to how much of the reported deaths over the last week were late reports.

Except for Taiwan and China, all the East Nation nations saw a significant drop in their cases.

In terms of average daily cases, South Korea manages to stay on top, followed by Japan and Vietnam. It is odd that Japan, who saw a slight decline in covid cases a month ago, had seen increasing trends in the past two weeks.

On a per capita basis, while South Korea continued to lead with almost 3000 cases per million population, Singapore and Brunei are in second and third, respectively, while the Philippines continued to be in the bottom rung (which is good) with 2.34 cases per million people.

The data is evident in the reproduction numbers of the countries, with Taiwan leading at 1.56. This would imply that Taiwan has not yet seen its peak and is expected to be reporting more than 1000 daily cases beginning next week. Countries like the Philippines and Indonesia, which have seen declining numbers and effective reproduction rates at bay will most likely see the same averages in the coming week.

The over-all momentum looks good for the East Asian region. For now.

The Health Agency announces 224 new cases and 9 deaths on Black Saturday. The NCR, however, had 93 cases or close to 42% of the total cases. Three LGUs report double digit numbers, with Caloocan City leading with 16 cases, Manila 14, and Taguig 10. All remaining LGUs had single digit numbers and the following reporting zero covid cases in NCR: Muntinlupa, San Juan and Pateros.

Outside of NCR, the following provinces reported double digits: Cavite 13, Laguna 11, and Bataan 11.

The Health Agency added 272 new cases and 24 deaths on Good Friday, April 15. Although the numbers didn’t move much from yesterday, the NCR contributed to 37% in today’s haul.

Four LGUs in the NCR reported double digits. They were: City of Manila 18, Quezon City 14, Pasay City 12, and Parañaque 10. Other LGUs continued to report single digits, with Pateros continuing to report zero covid.

Outside of NCR, the following provinces report double digits: Cavite 10, Bulacan 14, and Iloilo 14 (13 province, 1 city).

With the long holiday, many of the testing centers will most likely not be open. In addition, the exodus of many Filipinos to their home provinces should likely slow down the number of people getting tested within the National Capital Region for the weekend.

We should expect slightly lower numbers towards the weekend. Otherwise, if the numbers are bumped up, it could be that there are backlogs coming in or that cases may be on a slight upswing.

Stay vigilant and try to enjoy the holidays safely.

The Health Agency announces 276 new cases today, with 40% of the haul coming from the National Capital Region. With the exodus during the Holy Week to the provinces, please make sure that you observe minimum health standards and DO NOT compromise your health in the spirit of having ‘fun’. This is, after all, the Holy Week.

Four LGUs in the NCR recorded double digits. They were: City of Manila 24, Quezon City 23, Taguig and Caloocan City with 10 apiece. The rest of the 13 LGUs reported single digit numbers with two reporting zero covid. These two were: San Juan and Pateros.

Outside of NCR, the following provinces or HUCs (highly urbanized cities) reported double digit numbers: Cavite 27, Rizal 10, and Davao City 11.

With the exodus of many people from the National Capital Region this Holy Week beginning today, the Health Agency announces 233 new cases and 113 additional deaths on Holy Wednesday.

The NCR owned only 30% of today’s total cases. Only one LGU in NCR reported double digit – the City of Parañaque with 13 cases. All other LGUs reported single digit numbers with Pateros reporting zero covid today.

Outside of NCR, the following provinces had double digit numbers: Cavite 12, Bulacan 12, and Iloilo 20 (province 17, city 3).

As the Holy Week exodus in the various transport sectors build up, let’s not forget to make sure that everyone keeps the health protocols at bay. Distance, Mask, Air, and Wash!

Have a blessed Holy Week everyone! And stay safe!

It’s a Tuesday.

The Health Agency announces 205 new cases with 1 added death today. The NCR accounted for more than 37% (76 cases) of the total cases today. The positivity rate (7 day average) inches up by 0.1% at 1.7%.

Three LGUs in NCR had double digits. They were: City of Manila 16, Pasay City 11 and Quezon City 10. While the other LGUs had single digit numbers, three LGUs had zero covid. These LGUs were: Valenzuela, Muntinlupa and Marikina.

Outside of NCR, the following provinces reported double digits: Cavite 19, and Iloilo 10 (province 10, 4 city).

The week from April 4-10, 2022 closed with 1906 new cases or a 7-day average of 272 daily cases for the Philippines. None of the new cases were severe or critical. With the tremendous backlog of deaths, 428 deaths were added to the list.

Healthcare utilization was at very low risk. Surprisingly, even if the non-ICU bed utilization was at 16.4% (down from 16.7% the week prior), the ICU bed utilization is up at 18.4% (from 16.5% the week before). And this is a wonder, because according the Health Agency, there were ZERO CASES of severe or critical this week. Notice that last week, the ICU bed utilization was 492 beds (of 2990) but has increased to 542 (of 2951) beds. Severe and critical admissions the other week was 692, but is up at 707 this week (which does not really add up to the ICU bed utilized as well) and the data of the DoH that there are ZERO cases of severe or critical this week. Even if the severe and critical were carried over from last week, there was only ONE severe/critical COVID19 case the week prior. This method of reporting by the Health Agency is confusing and is exactly the kind of infographic that should be avoided as there is no continuity in data week on week.

Vaccination is a bit up but the individuals who availed of booster doses are down from more than 329,000 the week prior, to 322,000 this week (April 4-10).

The Health Agency announces 273 new cases with 8 added deaths today. More than 40% of today’s cases are from NCR.

Four LGUs in NCR reported double digit numbers. They are: Manila 17, Makati 16, Parañaque and Quezon City 14 apiece. The rest of the remaining LGUs reported single digits with Navotas having zero covid.

Outside of the NCR, the provinces/HUCs (highly urbanized cities) with double digits were: Cavite 28, Rizal 11, Cebu 12 (city 7, province 5), and Davao City 10