DESPITE seeing a record high of 9,061 new cases last Saturday, the National Capital Region (NCR) has not yet peaked in terms of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases, according to the independent OCTA Research.
OCTA fellow Guido David said the peak is likely to be seen in one or two weeks, or until the end of September.
David noted that once cases reach their peak, this would signal the start the downward trend in cases.
David said such a hope is brought about by the continued dip in the COVID-19 reproduction and growth rate in the region, which is the considered as the epicenter of the pandemic in the country.
From 1.39 last week (September 2 to 8), David said the R naught in Metro Manila has dropped to 1.28 this week (September 9 to 15).
The one-week growth rate, he also said, has declined to 9 percent from 14 percent last week.
But while the reproduction and growth rates have gone down, David said the number of the average daily new cases continue to increase, as well as the daily attack rate.
He said last week saw an average of 5,340 new cases a day, but this increased to 5,819 this week.
Meanwhile, the Healthcare Professionals Alliance Against COVID-19 (HPAAC) expressed concern over the government’s shift to the new COVID-19 Alert Level system and said authorities are handling the pandemic erroneously.
The group of medical doctors said current COVID-19 responses, which the government said were based on pandemic severity and healthcare utilization, do not reflect the true situation on the ground.
HPAAC said Metro Manila is currently facing the worst surge of COVID- 19 cases.
“We now register more cases than at any other time since the pandemic started. Health facilities are overwhelmed, resulting in patients dying unattended at home, in ambulances, or in corridors,” said HPAAC.
Because of this, the group is calling on the national government to acknowledge and address the inadequacies of the health department’s data reporting system that forms the basis for the alert levels.
