The Health Agency announces 3165 new cases with 39 added deaths and 12.3% positivity. The NCR owned 39% of the cases for the day.

Quezon City continued to haul the cases in both NCR and the country with 231 cases. This was followed by Manila 174 and Pasig 102. Twelve LGUs in NCR reported double digits: Makati 99, Parañaque 96, Taguig 88, Caloocan 79, Las Piñas 70, Pasay City 60, Valenzuela 56, Mandaluyong 42, Muntinlupa 39, Marikina 32, Malabon 28 and San Juan 15.

Outside of NCR, three provinces had triple digits: Cavite 153, Rizal 126 and Bulacan 116.

Provinces/HUCs with more than 50 but less than 100 cases were: Davao del Sur 93, Laguna 90, Bataan 66, Pampanga 62, Nueva Ecija and Tarlac 50 each, Iloilo 54, Negros Occidental 54, Cebu 66 and Palawan 60.

The province of South Cotabato saw unusually high cases of 42 today.

With the sudden bump up in cases, this can imply: people are not observant of minimum public health standards any longer, the lower first booster is impacting on waning immunity, the face to face classes are creating some spreading events by the mingling of those who are vaccinated with those that are not vaccinated, the complacency of people who have been vaccinated on standard health protocols, and the push of certain government and private individuals on the no masking in public policy.

It is difficult to understand that we need to remove the masking policy because of economy. After all, in a country like ours, where vaccination rates are not within the desirable status, it was the masking policy that kept our numbers lower.

In addition, the discrepancy in deaths versus new cases shows how discombobulate the data is. There should be a direct correlation between cases and deaths. When the data is obfuscated as in the past weeks where the number of deaths and cases are in opposite directions, we know that the number of cases are under reported and the Filipinos are not testing enough.

The Health Agency announces 2313 new cases with a 12% positivity rate and 43 added deaths for the day. NCR owned 1/3 of the cases for today, with some LGUs taking a shocking number over others.

The province of Rizal had the highest haul for the country today with close to 10% of the cases (228) today, coming from this province alone. The other province with a high haul was Pangasinan with 185 cases (139 from Pangasinan province and 46 from Dagupan City). In third was Cavite with 149 cases. Other provinces and HUCs that saw more than 50 but less than 100 cases today were: Laguna 77, Bulacan 63, Cebu 55, Isabela 80, Davao del Sur 99 (58 from Davao City) and Baguio City 88.

The National Capital Region had Quezon City leading with 156 cases. While Manila came in second with 85 cases, it was the small city of Muntinlupa that barged into third spot with 75 cases today. Other LGUs with double digits were: Taguig 67, Parañaque 64, Makati 63, Las Piñas 55, Pasig 53, Caloocan 30, Pasay City 28, Mandaluyong 27, Malabon 18 and Valenzuela 13.

The Health Agency announces 2404 new cases with 11.9% positivity and 39 added deaths today. NCR owned 40% of the cases with 16 of 17 LGUs reporting double or triple digits.

In NCR, three LGUs had triple digits: Quezon City 190, Manila 112, and Makati 106. Double digits came from Parañaque 86, Taguig 79, Pasig 74, Muntinlupa 48, Mandaluyong 44, Caloocan 43, Las Piñas 42, Pasay City 36, Marikina 26, Valenzuela 18, Malabon 12, San Juan 11 and Navotas 10.

Only two provinces reported triple digits: Cavite 156 and Rizal 103.

Provinces with more than 50 but less than 100 cases were: Laguna 58, Batangas 54, Bulacan 67, Isabela 50, Davao del Sur 94, and Pangasinan 72.

The Health Agency announces 1750 new cases with 49 added deaths and a positivity rate up at 11.6%. The NCR accounted for 38% of the cases today with 665.

Most of the cases remain concentrated in the most dense region in the Philippines – the National Capital Region. Quezon City continued to report triple digits with 147 cases today. Thirteen LGUs reported double digits: Makati 72, Manila 67, Taguig 58, Parañaque 57, Las Piñas 41, Pasig and Caloocan 40, Muntinlupa 31, Marikina 27, Pasay City 23, Mandaluyong 22, Valenzuela 12 and Malabon 10.

Outside NCR, no province or LGU reported triple digits. Only four areas reported more than 50 but less than 100 cases. They were: Cavite 83, Laguna 62, Rizal 71 and Pangasinan 63 (with Dagupan City reporting 14 cases).

Reminder to readers that the data provided by the DoH are only based on RT-PCR results. The discrepancy in deaths (higher deaths) with lower cases just shows that the number of cases are under reported and that antigen testing, which is the common method now, is not being reported. The public is advised to be cautious in the interpretation of the daily numbers.

The Health Agency reported 1326 new cases on the low Tuesday with 56 added deaths. Positivity rate is 10.9% from a 9% yesterday (which is a relatively high jump). The NCR owned 38% of the total cases today.

With the disproportionately lower cases to deaths, we are definitely under testing and under reporting the COVID-19 situation in the country.

NCR owned 498 of the cases with Quezon City owning 112. Thirteen other LGUs in Mega manila had double digits: Manila 68, Makati 44, Caloocan 40, Taguig 37, Parañaque 35, Pasig 34, Pasay City 25, Las Piñas 24, Mandaluyong 22, Malabon and Marikina 13 each and Valenzuela and Muntinlupa 12 each.

Outside of NCR, only three provinces had more than 50 cases but less than 100: Cavite 85, Rizal 75, Bulacan 59.

The Health Agency announces 17,145 cases for the week of August 29-September 4, 2022. This is down 10% of the cases from the week of August 22-28, 2022. This puts the 7-day average of cases at 2,449/day for the past week.

There were 40 severe and critical cases this week or 0.28% of the cases. The number of deaths, however, was higher with 354 deaths (108 occurring in the past 2 weeks) compared to the previous week where 316 deaths were reported.

Healthcare utilization was up at 29.3% for non ICU beds (from 28.1% the previous week) and down at 23.5% for ICU beds (from 24.9% the previous week). Severe and critical admissions are down to 768 compared to 806 last week.

As mentioned in the previous blogs, the target population coverage, while at close to 93% for fully vaccinated individuals should be revised based on the age group that is now allowed to receive vaccines for COVID-19. This includes the pediatric population 5 years old and up in the Philippines. If this is adjusted accordingly, the actual corrected % coverage would most likely be less than 70% of the actual eligible population based on approved age for the vaccines of COVID-19 available in the country.

There were 2202 new cases today with 51 added deaths. Because it is a Monday, the testing results are reset and the positivity rate is at 9%. The NCR owned 720 of the cases.

In NCR, Quezon City led with 162 cases. Thirteen other LGUs had double digits: Manila 98, Caloocan 65, Taguig 58, Parañaque 50, Makati 47, Las Piñas 40, Pasig 37 Muntinlupa 32, Valenzuela 30, Pasay City 29, Marikina 23, Mandaluyong 19, and San Juan 12.

Outside of NCR, Cavite and Rizal reported triple digits with 120 and 141, respectively.

Provinces and HUCs that had more than 50 but less than 100 cases were: Laguna 75, Batangas 68, Bulacan 83, Tarlac 51, Cebu 56, Isabela 50, Davao del Sur 77 (66 from Davao City alone) and Pangasinan 50.

The Health Agency announces 2321 new cases, 49 added deaths and 12.3% positivity rate today. NCR owned 813 (35%) of the cases.

There were 3 LGUs in NCR with triple digits: NCR 178, Manila 114 and Taguig 102. LGUs with double digits were: Makati 65, Parañaque 62, Pasig 47, Caloocan 46, Mandaluyong and Muntinlupa 31, Valenzuela 28, Marikina 27, Pasay City and Las Piñas 25 and Malabon 12.

Outside of NCR, only Cavite had triple digits with 138 cases.

Provinces or HUCs with more than 50 but less than 100 cases based on RT-PCR results were: Laguna 84, Rizal 75, Batangas 55, Bulacan 83, Iloilo 61, Cebu 85, Davao del Sur 72 (with Davao City owning 67).

THE WEEK IN REVIEW

The Philippines saw a decline in cases this week as it sees lower reported RT-PCR documented cases which now averages 2350/day. Japan and South Korea also continued to see a decline in numbers. However, two countries saw continuing rising cases – Taiwan and Hong Kong – this week.

The upward trend in these small nations has put them in the forefront of COVID-19 cases per capita (per million population), displacing erstwhile second placer Japan. With Hong Kong averaging almost 10K cases per day and Taiwan up at almost 30K daily cases, their COVID-19 numbers are up on a per capita basis. Both Hong Kong and Taiwan have almost 1300 cases/million population daily.

Effective reproduction rate is lower in the East Asia region, which means that we should be seeing lower cases again in the region this coming week. The Rt of the Philippines is now down to 0.82 (+/- 0.05), but this can drastically change with the opening of face-to-face classes.

The Health Agency announces 2812 new cases with a stable 12.4% positivity rate today. There were 52 added deaths. NCR owned 873 (31%) of the day’s numbers.

Of the 17 LGUs in NCR, 14 reported double digits while 2 reported triple. The triple digits came from Quezon City 159 and Manila 102. Double digits came from: Makati 81, Taguig 78, Caloocan 77, Las Piñas 63, Parañaque 61, Pasig 58, Muntinlupa 45, Marikina 38, Pasay City 30, Mandaluyong 29, Malabon 14, and Valenzuela, San Juan and Navotas with 11 each. Of these LGUs, the highest ADAR (average daily attack rate) were Makati (12.95), Parañaque (10.25) and Mandaluyong (10.21). Highest fatality rates were from Marikina (1.7%), Navotas (1.7%) and Valenzuela (1.6%).

Outside of NCR, three provinces reported triple digits: Cavite 194, Davao del Sur 141 (with Davao City owning 113), and Rizal 112. Provinces and HUCs with more than 50 but less than 100 cases were: Laguna 77, Batangas 82, Bulacan 80, Nueva Ecija 57, Pampanga 67, Negros Occidental 60, Cebu 71 and Isabela 56.

Highest ADAR outside of NCR is Baguio City (12.93), while the province with the highest fatality rate is Aurora Province (5.2%).

Provinces and HUCs that saw higher than usual cases today were: Misamis Oriental 45, North Cotabato 42, General Santos City 16, Zamboanga del Norte 27, and Maguindanao 14.

The Health Agency announces 2452 new cases with 46 added deaths today. The positivity rate is stable at 12.4%. NCR owned 712 (29%) of the cases for the day.

Only Quezon City had triple digits in NCR today with 165 cases. Twelve other LGUs reported double digits: Manila 86, Makati 64, Pasig 64, Mandaluyong 43, Taguig 42, Parañaque 41, Las Piñas 34, Caloocan 32, Marikina 30, Pasay City 30, Valenzuela 29, and Muntinlupa 26.

The provinces with triple digits were led by Davao del Sur 115 (93 from Davao City) and Cavite 112.

Those with more than 50 but less than 100 cases were: Zamboanga del Sur 50, Pampanga 58, Bulacan 67, Negros Occidental 57, Cebu 77, Rizal 88, and Laguna 81.

Other provinces that saw higher cases than usual today were: North Cotabato 47, Agusan del Sur 30, Palawan 35, Maguindanao 15 and Basilan 17.

The Health Agency announces 3767 new cases after two days of counts at the 1,000 level. This is because the past two days were data from a long weekend – Sunday and Monday. The late data from the provinces were also counted only today. There were 50 added deaths today with 12.4% positivity rate (up from 11.8% yesterday). The NCR owned 1016 cases (27%).

Zambales owned 510 of the cases while Olongapo City registered 763 cases today – in what may have been unreported cases in the past weeks but were reported only today. Other provinces and HUCs did not see this aberrant deviation in data as only Cavite reported 135 cases. Those that had more than 50 but less than 100 cases were: Laguna 80, Rizal 73, Batangas 80, Bulacan 75, Pampanga 54, Iloilo 50, Negros Occidental 61, Cebu 67, Isabela 54 and Davao del Sur 50.

In NCR, three LGUs reported triple digits: Quezon City 199, Manila 136 and Makati 102. Twelve LGUs reported double digits: Taguig 83, Caloocan 81, Parañaque 78, Pasig 58, Mandaluyong 52, Pasay City 40, Las Piñas 36, Valenzuela 35, Marikina 35, Muntinlupa 33, San Juan 18 and Navotas 12.

Without the data of Zambales and Olongapo City (which were off the charts), the country may have truly had around 2600 cases only today.