The Health Agency reported 626 new cases with positive rate continuing its decline to 10.1% from 10.3% yesterday. There were, however, 33 added deaths.

NCR contributed to 41% (258) of the cases for the day. This was led by Quezon City with 65. The other double digit LGUs in NCR were: Manila 39, Caloocan 22, Makati 18, Taguig 17, Pasig 16, Parañaque 15, Muntinlupa 14, Valenzuela 12, and Las Piñas and Mandaluyong 10 each.

Outside NCR, only two provinces posted more than 30 cases. They were: Cebu 33 and Cavite 32.

The Health Agency announces 863 new cases with positive rate reset to 10.3% today. Note that the number of tests done yesterday only amounted to 8000. The prevalence data does not depict the real picture of COVID-19 in the country, hence, precaution is still highly recommended during the long holiday ahead.

There were 30 added deaths today.

NCR owned 338 (39%) of the day’s cases, with Quezon City leading with 82 followed by Manila with 50. LGUs with double digits in Mega Manila were: Makati 25, Parañaque 22, Valenzuela 21, Caloocan 20, Las Piñas 19, Mandaluyong and Muntinlupa 17 each, Pasig 15 and Taguig 13

Outside NCR, only three provinces had more than 30 cases – all from the CALABARZON area. They were; Cavite 59, Laguna 50 and Rizal 41.

The Health Agency announces, surprisingly a low Sunday with 973 new cases and 30 added deaths with a positive rate that drops a tad to 12.4%. Note also that the number of individuals tested yesterday was down to around 10,000. NCR continued to take the haul with 406 cases (42%) of the day.

This was led by Quezon City with raked in 94 new cases. The rest of the LGUs in NCR continued to have less than 50 cases: Manila 46, Pasig 45, Taguig 33, Parañaque 31, Las Piñas 25, Makati 23, Caloocan 20, Mandaluyong 19, Marikina 18, Pasay City 17 and Muntinlupa 14.

Provinces outside of NCR also posted less than 50 cases with only 3 provinces reporting more than 30 cases. They were: Cavite 46, Rizal 47, and Laguna 34.

THE GLOBAL DATA as of 11 December 2022 (DEC 14, ED 122, WHO PUBLICATION)

The number of new weekly cases remained stable, although is slightly up at +2% for the week of December 5-11, 2022. Number of new weekly deaths reported, however increased by over 10% versus the previous week with almost 10,000 deaths added.

At the regional level, number of cases continued to increase in the Western Pacific Region by 3% and the Region of the Americas by 27%. The number of newly reported weekly deaths increased in the African Region up by 975% (partly due to batch reporting from South Africa), the Region of the Americas by +37%, Eastern Mediterranean Region +81% and Western Pacific Region +5%.

At the country level, the highest number of new weekly cases were reported from Japan (almost 850,000 new cases or +13%), USA (almost 450,000 new cases, +50%), Republic of Korea (more than 420,000 cases, +13%), France (down by 5%) and Brazil (up by 3%).

Highest number of weekly deaths came from the USA (+62%), Japan (+28%), Brazil (-5%), France (+4%) and Italy (-29%).

Reiterating that the current trends are to be interpreted with caution as several countries have progressively changed COVID-19 testing strategies, resulting in lower numbers of tests performed and hence, lower number of cases detected. Prevalence surveys are highly underestimated versus the actual number of infections in the population.

Updated information on number and percentage SARS-CoV-2 sequences from June 1 to December 12, 2022 globally shows that the predominance of the Omicron sister-lineages and additional Omicron VOC descendant lineages under further monitoring. Currently, predominant lineages are: BQ.1 (33.89%), BA.5 (18.26%), BA.5 + 5 mutations (16.87%), BA.2.75 (7.21%), and XBB (3.77%). The rest are either unassigned, others or other Omicron lineage.

The Health Agency announces 1196 new cases with 12.5% positive rate. Note that the PCR tests done yesterday was just a little more than 10,000. There were 39 deaths added today – the highest daily deaths in the past month.

NCR was led by Quezon City with 106 cases followed by Manila with 47, Pasig 41, Makati 38, Taguig 37, Muntinlupa 32, Caloocan 30, Parañaque 27, Mandaluyong 23, Las Piñas and Marikina with 21 each, Valenzuela 16 and Malabon 10.

In the provinces, the following reported 30 cases and above: Cavite 75, Laguna 53, Rizal 66, Bulacan 52, Cebu 35 and Isabela 30.

The Health Agency announces 1306 new cases with 12.5% positive rate and 27 added deaths today. The NCR owned 513 of the cases (39.3%).

Leading the NCR was Quezon City, which had triple digits at 132. This was followed by Manila with 74. Other LGUs with double digits in Mega Manila were: Makati 44, Parañaque 36, Pasig 35, Muntinlupa 27, Mandaluyong 25, Caloocan 23, Taguig 22, Las Piñas 21, Marikina 18, Valenzuela and Pasay City 16 each.

Outside of the NCR, the following provinces recorded more than 30 cases: Laguna 84, Rizal 66, Cavite 60, Cebu 46, Bulacan 44 and Batangas 34.

The Health Agency announces 1184 new cases with a positivity of 12.6% and 24 added deaths. Almost half or 506 of the cases today, came from NCR alone.

In NCR, Quezon City led the haul with 99 cases followed by Taguig 68, and Manila 63. LGUs that had double digits today were: Pasig 43, Makati 38, Parañaque 29, Muntinlupa 24, Caloocan and Valenzuela with 23 each, Mandaluyong 21, Marikina 19, Las Piñas 18, Pasay City 16 and Malabon 11.

Provinces with more than 30 cases were: Laguna 55, Cebu 50, Cavite 47, Rizal 45, Bulacan 40, Isabela 39 and Batangas 34.

The Health Agency announces 1009 new cases with 12.6% positivity rate and 23 added deaths. The NCR owned 368 of the cases.

The cases in the NCR were hauled by Quezon City 89 and Manila 58. The LGUs with double digit numbers in Mega Manila were: Pasig and Parañaque 30 each, Makati and Caloocan 26 each, Las Piñas 24, Taguig 23, Mandaluyong 16 and Pasay City 13.

Four provinces registered more than 30 cases: Cavite 51, Laguna 60, Rizal 44 and Iloilo 33.

The Health Agency announces 791 new cases with 12.6% positivity (and continues to climb again). There were 19 added deaths today. NCR owned 330 (42%) of the day’s cases.

Quezon City led with 71 cases followed by Manila with 52. Other LGUs in NCR that reported double digits were: Caloocan 28, Pasig 27, Makati and Parañaque 23, Pasay City 20, Taguig 18, Muntinlupa 16, Las Piñas 13, Marikina 11, and Mandaluyong 10. Navotas was the lone LGU in Mega Manila that had ZERO COVID today.

Only three provinces reported 30 cases and up. They were: Cavite 50, Rizal 42 and Bulacan 30.

Cases are up by 7% on the week of December 5-11, 2022 versus the previous week. But I’ve stopped reporting the weekly reports of the Health Agency because in reality, the numbers are under estimated. That meant that for the week of December 5-11, the Philippines had an average of around 1170 new daily cases. Not bad? But not good as well. That’s because the data that’s being churned out is based on PCR tests done and reported. And because the test is expensive, cumbersome and takes a long time to get the results back (and is not even useful for determining recovery after COVID-19), the average tests has dipped significantly to an average of 11,000 tests a day.

The health indicator that manages to provide better outlook on the pandemic is healthcare utilization. With the very low numbers, non-ICU bed utilization is at 24%, while ICU bed utilization is at 22.4%. There were 156 added deaths this week, with 34 of them occurring in the past two weeks.

Vaccination is now something of the past as the percentage coverage for target population (the government defines target population as 70% of the total population, which we know is not right because we don’t offer vaccines to those less than 5 years old, which makes up 10-11% of the total population). Besides, getting ‘fully vaccinated’ with the current available vaccines at a time of Omicron isn’t really a scientific approach to how the vaccines should be utilized in the pandemic. Fortunately, a South African study showed that adjusted for vaccines and prior infection immunity, Omicron is 25% less lethal. Nevertheless, real world data is mixed and show that those highly vulnerable or those with co morbidities still continue to be more critically ill than those that have never received any COVID-19 vaccine at all.

Today, the Health Agency announces 1115 new cases with a high 12.4% reset on a Monday. There were a little more than 8000 individuals tested only on December 11, which will mean that we will most likely have high triple digits tomorrow. There were 22 added deaths today.

The NCR owned 387 of the day’s cases, which was led by Quezon City with 99, followed by Manila with 56 cases. Other LGUs with double digits were: Las Piñas 29, Taguig 25, Parañaque 25, Makati 24, Mandaluyong 21, Muntinlupa 19, Caloocan 18, Valenzuela 17, Pasig 15, and Pasay City 14.

Provinces with more than 30 cases were: Cavite 70, Cebu 52, Rizal 41, Laguna 38, Bulacan 35, Isabela 34, Cagayan 31 and Nueva Ecija 30.

NCR accounted for more than 42% of the 1134 new cases today. Positivity rate remained at 13.2% with just a little more than 10,000 PCR tests done December 10. There were 24 added deaths today.

In NCR, Quezon City led with 90 cases followed by Manila with 78 and Taguig with 63. Other LGUs in NCR with double digit cases are: Makati 29, Parañaque 27, Caloocan 26, La Pin1as 22, Mandaluyong 21, Muntinlupa and Marikina 19 each, Pasay City 15 and Valenzuela 12. Pateros ended its zero covid streak with 3 cases today.

Provinces with more than 30 cases were: Cavite 59, Laguna 51, Rizal 40, Cebu 38 and Bulacan 32.

A gentle reminder to everyone – the cases are not LOW. We are not testing enough and because only PCR tests are reported, the real prevalence of COVID19 in the country is not correctly tracked. Remember to keep minimum public health standards.

THE GLOBAL DATA AS OF 04 December 2022 (DEC 7, ED 121, WHO PUBLICATION)

While the World Health records a stable numbers for the week November 28 – December 4, 2022 compared to the previous week, with less than 3 million new cases reported, the report is to be interpreted with caution as testing strategies and reporting progressively change in different countries and therefore are highly underestimated. The good news is that the number of new weekly deaths declined by 17% compared to the previous week.

On a regional level, case numbers declined generally in all regions except the Region of the Americas which is up by 14%. Only the South-East Asia Region reported higher deaths this week (up by 3%).

On a country level, the highest numbers were from Japan with close to 750,000 cases (up by 7%), France (up by 38%) with more than 385,000 cases, South Korea with ore than 370,000 cases, the US with more than 296,000 cases and Brazil with more than 188,000 cases (+25%). Most deaths came from the US, Japan, Brazil, Italy and France.