The Health Agency’s weekly summary showed 1465 new cases the week of April 18-24, 2022 or an average of 209 cases a day. This was a decline of 12% of cases from the previous week.

Now here’s the part we missed. Healthcare utilization for non ICU beds decreased from 4164 out of 24,645 bed the week of April 11-17 to 4112 out of 24,309 beds the week of April 18-24. Notice that there was no movement in over-all utilization for non ICU beds at 16.9%.

On the other hand, ICU bed utilization on April 11-17 was 450 out of 2,842 ICU beds but up at 479 out of 2,841 ICU beds for the week of April 18-24. This meant that ICU bed utilization was up from 15.8% to 16.9%. While still considered very low risk (<20%), notice that the severe and critical admissions are up from 664 the week of April 11-17 to 726 the week of April 18-24. According the Health Agency, there was only ONE severe and critical case from April 11 – 17. And based on today’s bulletin, there were ZERO severe and critical cases from April 18-24. So what accounts for the jump in severe and critical admissions AND the jump in ICU bed utilization?

Total target population fully vaccinated is slightly up from 74.28% to 74.98% as a little more than 880,000 are added to the fully vaccinated list. A2 coverage (senior citizens) is also up from 76.14% to 76.35% this week. Individuals who had ONE additional booster was almost 300,000 the week of April 16-22 or almost twice that of the previous week.

There were more deaths the week of April 18-24 as 213 deaths were added to the list, compared to the week of April 11-17 where 200 deaths were announced.

The Health Agency announces 213 new cases and 12 added deaths today. The NCR led the haul with more than 46% of today’s cases. The week starts off with a positivity rate of 1.1% or a paltry 151 positive from 13,734 individuals tested yesterday.

Three LGUs in NCR had double digits – Makati (17), Manila (16) and Quezon City (13). While the rest had single digits, two LGUs reported zero covid – Pateros and Marikina.

Outside NCR, only one province reported double digits – Cavite with 13.

The Health Agency announces 205 new cases with 3 added deaths today. NCR took the haul with more than 46% of the total cases.

Three LGUs in NCR reported double digits with Pasay City reporting 20 cases, Quezon City 15 and Manila 13. Other LGUs in Mega Manila had single digit numbers with 2 LGUs having zero covid – Pateros and Navotas.

Outside of NCR, the provinces of Cavite (14) and Rizal (12) were the only provinces with double digit cases today.

THE WEEK IN REVIEW

The Philippines continues to see a slight decline in cases, although the decrease has considerably slowed down. This week ends with an average of 210 cases daily or around 1.89 cases per million (per capita). The reader is cautioned to interpret this data carefully because (1) many do not use RT-PCR for testing and (2) the health agency does not include RAT (rapid antigen test) in the daily count.

A good indicator though is the healthcare utilization rate which is at a very low risk status. Positivity rate also low at 1.4% (based on the Department of Health COVID19 tracker).

The death rates are also down, although the past several days, we’ve had more than 60 deaths daily (most likely due to backlog reports). At the rate the health agency reports deaths, it’s difficult to make heads or tails on correlating the deaths with the number of daily (or even weekly) cases in the pandemic.

All East Asian nations are seeing a lowering of cases, except for Taiwan and China.

Based on number of cases, South Korea continues to lead the region, however, with a significant drop in the daily cases reported. Japan continued to report more than 40,000 daily cases and seems to be unable to shake off the numbers. China is now in third spot as Vietnam clears the bar and drops to an average of 20,000 daily cases.

In terms of number of cases per capita, South Korea remains on top with 1720 cases per million people, while Singapore is in second with 572 per million. Brunei, which is seeing a daily average of 177 cases per day based on the 7 day average) is up in third with 400 cases per million population. The Philippines remains at the lowest rung with 1.89 cases per million population.

Effective reproduction rate shows that Taiwan’s Rt is up at 1.77. This means that Taiwan has not yet peaked and will most likely see more cases in the coming weeks. This is the same story as China whose Rt is at 1.20 (as of April 19, 2022). With the recent upswing of cases in Beijing, the COVID19 outbreak in China may be quite challenging to control. The Rt of the Philippine is at 0.78 (+/- 0.05), indicating that we still have the potential to bring down the cases but the decline will significantly slow down over the new weeks. Indonesia’s Rt is at 0.40, indicating a continued significant decrease in cases in the upcoming week as the Omicron wave comes to an end as well.

The Health Agency announces 210 new cases and added 61 deaths (these backlog reports on deaths should be given more attention because it seems that we have never ending reports on deaths) today.

NCR accounted for 35% of the cases for the country with three LGUs reporting double digits. They were: Quezon City and the City of Manila with 13 apiece and Makati with 11. Other LGUs have single digits with Pateros as the lone LGU with zero covid.

Outside of NCR, only one province reported double digits – Cavite with 12 cases.

The Health Agency announces 230 new cases today together with 62 added deaths. The 7-day positivity rate bumps up by 0.1% to 1.4%. The NCR owned 36% of today’s cases.

Three LGUs in Mega Manila led the haul today with double digits. They were: City of Manila 19, Quezon City 15, and Caloocan City 13. The rest of the LGUs reported single digit or had zero covid. Those with zero covid in NCR were: Taguig, Valenzuela and Marikina City.

Outside of NCR, the following provinces reported double digits: Batangas 15, Cavite 13, and Rizal 11. The haul in CALABARZON of 47 cases, plus Mega Manila’s 83 accounted for 57% of the country’s total cases for the day.

While today had some good news with only 134 new cases, the number of deaths (which are lagging reports) are up at 66, pushing the total number of deaths due to COVID19 past the 60,000 mark.

The NCR had 53 cases, accounting for 40% of the total cases in the country today. Only one LGU had double digit numbers – Makati City – which reported 10 cases. While the rest of the LGUs in Mega Manila had single digit numbers, 4 of the LGUs reported zero covid. The latter were: Taguig, Malabon, Navotas and Pateros.

Outside of NCR, the following provinces had double digits: Cavite 11, Laguna 10, and Batangas 13.

This is the opportune time to get your boosters (if you still have not had even the first booster).

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.