The Health Agency announces 2560 new cases with no added deaths and 11.8% positivity today. The NCR owned 38.6% of the cases (988).

The shift to the provinces is now more obvious as Cavite led with haul of 200 cases today. Other provinces with triple digits all came from CALABARZON, namely: Laguna 166, Rizal 139, and Batangas 103. Double digits for the provinces and HUCs outside of Mega Manila today were: Quezon Province 22, Bulacan 73, Pampanga 90, Bataan 33, Nueva Ecija 43, Tarlac 20, Zambales 11, Iloilo 98, Negros Occidental 33, Aklan 16, Cebu 80, Bohol 15, Cagayan Province 55, Isabela 12, Nueva Vizcaya 17, Davao City 46, Pangasinan 42, Baguio City 11, Benguet province 13, Cagayan de Oro City 18, Zamboanga City 12, Butuan City 14, Mindoro Oriental 14 and Marinduque 11.

In NCR, three LGUs reported triple digits with Quezon City leading with 197 cases, Makati had 118 and Manila 100. Those with double digits were: Pasig and Parañaque with 93 each, Taguig 83, Las Piñas 60, Mandaluyong 56, Pasay City 49, Muntinlupa 47, Caloocan 36, Marikina 29 and Valenzuela 10. No LGU in NCR had zero covid.

THE WEEK IN REVIEW

The rising global cases of COVID-19 fueled by the omicron sub variant BA.5 (and other sub variants in other parts of the world) is seen (and felt) in East Asia as the cases in this part of the world are seeing dramatic increase in infections. Data is to be interpreted WITH CAUTION as the number of reported cases are based on PCR in most countries and self-testing and self-reporting is not done in many nations, including the Philippines.

Using the effective reproduction number, if the rate is greater than 1, the infection is able to spread in the population. If it remains below 1, then the number of cases occurring will gradually decrease. That is why the Rt is an important indicator of infection control in pandemic. All countries, except Taiwan has Rt>1.0. This is led by South Korea and Japan. The Philippines has a reproduction number of 1.36 (+/- 0.05) as of July 13, 2022.

Japan is on its seventh surge as the number of cases now touch almost 100,000 a day, giving them a 7-day average of more than 73,000/day or 593/million population. South Korea and Taiwan come in second and third with more than 32,000 and 27,000 new daily cases, respectively.

Per capita, it is Brunei, Singapore and Taiwan that had quadruple digits per million population. The Philippines had 16/million population new cases as of July 15, 2022.

The Health Agency announces 2578 new cases with no added deaths today and a tad rise in positivity to 11.8%. While there is an increasing number of cases in the country, the pattern over the last few days saw NCR owning less that 40% of the total share. Today, NCR accounted for 916 (35%) of the cases, which means that the case load has now spread to the provinces outside of Mega Manila and continues to rise there.

Outside of NCR, CALABARZON had four of its five provinces register triple digits with Cavite leading with 200 cases. Laguna followed with 174, Rizal 173 and Batangas 101. Quezon Province had 27 cases.

The province of Iloilo led Western Visayas with 161 cases followed by Negros Occidental with 38, Antique 16, Cadiz 10, Guimaras 8.

Central Visayas had Cebu with 77 cases, Negros Oriental 10, and Bohol 13.

Central Luzon had Pampanga leading with 96 cases, followed by Bulacan 77, Batangas 53, Tarlac 30, Nueva Ecija 21 and Zambales 10.

Other provinces and HUCs with double digits today were: Pangasinan 69, Baguio City 34, Davao City 48, Ilocos Norte 13, Benguet 10, Cagayan de Oro City 17, South Cotabato 13, Sorsogon 11, Leyte 13, Surigao del Sur 10, and Oriental Mindoro 11.

In the NCR, Quezon City led with 202 cases today followed by Manila with 113. Other LGUs with double digits were: Makati 95, Taguig 84, Pasig 77, Parañaque 70, Las Piñas 59, Mandaluyong 53, Marikina 40, Caloocan 31, Muntinlupa 29, Pasay City 21, and Valenzuela and San Juan with 17 each.

A summary on the trend and situation of NCR is provided below by OCTA Research Fellow, Prof. Guido David on the situation in the National Capital Region. Notice how the growth rate is slightly slowing down. And as cases in the NCR decelerate in growth, this means that with continued increasing cases nationally, the numbers have shifted to the provinces, where vaccination rates are mostly lower and healthcare is also less robust.

The Health Agency announces 2588 new cases today with no added deaths. The positivity rate continued to climb and is not at 11.5%. However, there is a shift in the balance of cases for the past three days where NCR accounted for only 38% of the day’s cases. CALABARZON accounted for 26% of the cases today with Cavite leading the haul in the whole country with 246 new cases.

Other provinces with triple digits were: Iloilo 166, Laguna 149, Rizal 145 and Batangas 113. Many provinces and HUCs saw high double digits and only a handful of provinces had zero covid. Those with double digits were: Quezon Province 21, Bulacan 83, Pampanga 51, Bataan 43, Nueva Ecija 42, Tarlac 30, Zambales 15, Negros Occidental 31, Aklan 13, Antique 11, Cebu (including city) 74, Bohol 12, Cagayan Valley 33 (including the City of Santiago that had 11 cases), Isabela 10, Davao City 23, Davao del Sur 10, Pangasinan 51, Ilocos Norte 13, Baguio City 30, Cagayan de Oro City 10 and Sorsogon 15.

In NCR, three LGUs continue to report triple digits: Quezon City 180, Makati 118, and Manila 112. Eleven had double digits but many LGUs are experiencing higher than usual number of cases. These include: Taguig 98, Pasig 79, Las Piñas 71, Parañaque 67, Mandaluyong 60, Muntinlupa 59, Pasay City 51, Caloocan City 27, Marikina 22, San Juan 16, and Valenzuela 11.

The Health Agency announces 2371 new cases and 1 added death as the 7-day positivity rate continued to rise and stands at 11.2% today. NCR owned 955 of today’s cases.

The province of Cavite led todays haul with 190 new cases followed by Iloilo with 140, Laguna with 135, Cebu with 114, and Rizal 101. The provinces and HUCs that reported double digits were: Batangas 99, Quezon Province 12, Bulacan 77, Pampanga 51, Bataan 25, Nueva Ecija 20, Tarlac 20, Zambales 10, Negros Occidental 17, Aklan 13, Antique 13, Negros Oriental 13, Bohol 15, Cagayan Valley 16, Isabela 10, Nueva Vizcaya 10, Davao City 41, Pangasinan 53, Ilocos Norte 11, Baguio City 40, Cagayan de Oro City 20, North Cotabato 11 and Mindoro Oriental 11. While other provinces reported single digits, many are seeing increasing cases.

In Mega Manila, three LGUs reported triple digits: Quezon City 170, Manila 119, and Makati 103. Ten other LGUs reported double digits: Taguig 90, Parañaque 83, Las Piñas 77, Pasay City and Pasig 69 cases apiece, Muntinlupa 52, Mandaluyong 40, Marikina 37, Caloocan 18 and San Juan 14.

The Health Agency announces 1604 new cases with no added deaths today. However, the positivity rate is up at 10.9% today. The NCR gets a reprieve as it accounted for only 637 (39.7%) of the cases today. That means that the cases outside of Mega Manila are growing.

The province of Iloilo led the daily haul with 131 cases, followed by the province of Laguna with 113.

Other provinces and HUCs (highly urbanized cities) that reported double digits were: Cavite 91, Rizal 61, Batangas 69, Quezon Province 13, Bulacan 52, Pampanga 61, Bataan 25, Nueva Ecija 24, Tarlac 31, Zambales 10, Negros Occidental 19, Aklan 12, Capiz 14, Antique 10, Cebu 25, Davao City 33, Pangasinan 25, and Sorsogon 10.

In NCR, Quezon City and Makati recorded triple digits with 112 and 110 cases respectively. Twelve other LGUs had double digits. They were: Manila 73, Pasig 52, Las Piñas 41, Taguig 37, Parañaque 33, Mandaluyong 31, Marikina 30, Muntinlupa 29, San Juan 19, Valenzuela 15 and Caloocan City 12. No LGU in NCR had zero covid.

The Health Agency announces 1363 new cases with no added deaths. However, the positivity rate now surpasses the 10% mark with the 7-day average at 10.2% today. The NCR owned 43.8% of the cases for the day.

While NCR led the pack on a regional level, it was the province of Cavite that led the pack with >10% of the cases today coming from there alone. Cavite had 147 new cases on the low Tuesday.

In NCR, only Quezon City had triple digits with 122 cases. Twelve other LGUs reported double digits: Manila and Makati 70 each, Parañaque 65, Pasig 51, Mandaluyong 40, Taguig 37, Muntinlupa 31, Pasay City and Las Piñas with 30 each, Caloocan City 17, Marikina 11, and San Juan 10.

Other provinces and HUCs (highly urbanized cities) with double digits were: Laguna 55, Batangas 57, Rizal 65, Quezon Province 13, Bulacan 66, Pampanga 26; Bataan, Nueva Ecija and Tarlac had 10 cases apiece.

Iloilo (including city) 67, Aklan 13, Cebu (including city) 56, Davao City 12, Pangasinan 20 and Baguio City 17.

The Health Agency announces the weekly situation of COVID-19 in the country with cases up from 7,398 on the week of June 27-July 3, 2022 to 10,271 for the week of July 4-10, 2022. This is an almost 40% increase in cases with the daily average cases now at 1,467. As the number of cases increase, so do the severe and critical. There were 27 added severe and critical (or 0.27% of the new cases) this week. The 50 added deaths this past week were not recent (or fresh) and had occurred prior to June 27, 2022. The 50 verified deaths occurred from November 2020 to May 2022.

On healthcare utilization, non-ICU bed use is up at 4,863 (of 21,424) this past week compared to 4,342 (of 21,791) of the other week. That means 22.7% vs 19.9% for non-ICU bed utilization. On ICU bed utilization, 411 (of 2,414) were occupied (17%) this week compared to 381 (of 2,487) or 15.3% the previous week. The number of severe and critical admissions stood at 555 this past week versus 497 the week prior. In general, the healthcare utilization of the country is relatively low in spite of the rising COVID-19 cases. This may not be necessarily true in all localities.

Vaccination coverage of the target population is now at 78.95% (up from 78.64%) and 77.72% of the A2 population is now covered. The vaccination rate is also slightly up with close to 700,000 being fulling vaccinated as of the week prior and close to 400,000 receiving a booster dose. However, the number of individuals receiving a booster (or additional dose) is still a low 15.34 million (although up from the 15.14 million the week prior to this).

There are 1,660 new cases reported today with no deaths added. This week begins with a 9.6% positivity rate.

The NCR accounted for 769 (or 46%) of the cases for the day. Quezon City and Manila reported triple digits with 156 and 103 cases, respectively. Twelve other LGUs reported double digits: Parañaque and Makati had 78 cases apiece, Taguig 62, Pasig 52, Pasay City 47, Las Piñas 44, Mandaluyong 31, Muntinlupa 29, Valenzuela 26, San Juan 23, Caloocan 19, and Marikina 13. Pateros reported zero covid today.

Provinces and HUCs that reported triple digits today were: Cavite 110 and Iloilo 105. The following had double digits today: Laguna 68, Rizal 70, Bataan 69, Quezon Province 19, Bulacan 32, Pampanga 34, Bataan 13, Nueva Ecija 12, Tarlac 27, Negros Occidental 18, Aklan 12, Antique 11, Cebu (including Cebu City) 58, Negros Oriental 10, Cagayan Valley 15, Isabela 10, Davao CIty 22, and Pangasinan 25.

The Health Agency announces 2,018 new cases with 1 added death today. NCR owned 838 (41.5%) of the cases as the provinces outside of Mega Manila see more cases.

NCR had three LGUs with triple digits: Quezon City 150, Makati 107, and Manila 101. Nine other LGUs in the the metro had double digit: Parañaque 82, Pasig 59, Taguig 55, Mandaluyong 49, Las Piñas 47, Pasay City 43, Mandaluyong 41, Muntinlupa 34, Valenzuela and Caloocan 21 and San Juan 10. Navotas reported zero covid today.

Outside of NCR, the provinces of Cavite, Laguna and Iloilo marked triple digits with 135, 122 and 139 cases each. Other provinces and HUCs that saw double digits were: Rizal 90, Bataan 66, Quezon Province 11, Bulacan 62, Pampanga and Nueva Ecija 55, Tarlac 18, Bataan 21, Negros Occidental 25, Cebu (including city) 80, Aklan 11, Capiz 10, Isabela 11, Davao city 26, Pangasinan 28, Baguio city 33, and Benguet province 13.

THE WEEK IN REVIEW

As BA.5 and other subvariants of omicron continue to spread all over the world, East Asia is not spared of the onslaught of this subvariant. Japan is seeing another surge in numbers, together with other nations like the Philippines Brunei, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia. In the Philippines, the 7-day average is up at >1300 new daily cases with a 7-day positivity at 9.5%. The effective reproduction number for the country is stable at 1.32 (+/-0.05).

Based on per capita, the Philippines now has double digits and stands at 11.73 cases per million population (as of July 8, 2022). All countries, except for Vietnam and Taiwan, have reproduction numbers >1.0.

The Health Agency announces 1,825 new cases (and no added deaths) today. The 7-day positivity rate continued to climb and is now at 9.5%. The NCR accounts for 835 (46%) of the cases for the day.

In NCR, Quezon City and Makati led with triple digits at 162 and 113 cases, respectively. This was followed by 12 other LGUs with double digits and rising numbers: Taguig 95, Manila 93, Pasig 81, Parañaque 58, Las Piña 46, Mandaluyong 42, Muntinlupa 37, Pasay and Marikina with 30 each, Caloocan 19, and Valenzuela and San Juan with 12 each. No LGU in NCR had zero covid.

Other parts of the Philippines that have triple digits today are: Cavite 145, Rizal and Iloilo with 104 cases apiece. Provinces and HUCs with double digits included: Laguna 85, Batangas 62, Bulacan 55, Pampanga 38, Bataan 18, Tarlac 15, Negros Occidental 20, Aklan 18, Capiz 11, Cebu (including Cebu City) 60, Davao City 24, Pangasinan 21, Baguio City 15, Cagayan de Oro City 10, and Palawan (including Puerto Princesa) 14.

The Health Agency announces 1,712 new cases and 14 added deaths today as the 7-day positivity rate continued to climb to 9.2%. The NCR owned 748 or 44% of the cases for the day.

Quezon City and Makati reported triple digits with 143 and 107, respectively. This was followed with 11 LGUs with double digits: Manila 89, Taguig and Pasig 66, Parañaque 57, Las Piñas 45, Mandaluyong 42, Pasay and Marikina 26, Muntinlupa 23, Caloocan 22, and Valenzuela 13. None of the LGUs in Mega Manila had zero covid.

CALABARZON had 371 cases led by Cavite with 123 cases. Laguna had 91, Rizal 86, Batangas 59 and Quezon Province 11 (there was one case with unknown province).

Other provinces and HUCs with double digits were: Bulacan 26, Pampanga 54, Bataan 41, Iloilo 98, Negros Occidental 15, Cadiz 16, Cebu 47, Davao City 18, Pangasinan 28, Baguio City 18, Benguet 19, and Camarines Sur 11.