THE average daily coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases continues to drop in 2023 and is now below the 300 mark, the weekly case bulletin issued by the Department of Health (DOH) yesterday indicated.
The bulletin showed an average of 270 cases daily, or 1,891 infections throughout the country for the period of January 16 to 22.
The number is 35 percent lower than cases reported from January 9 to 15.
The DOH bulletin also showed there were 104 deaths reported over the past seven days.
It likewise listed four additional severe and critical case during the past week, bringing to 432 the number of severe and critical cases as of January 22 all over the country.
The DOH said that of the total severe and critical cases, the report showed that 370 of them are occupying in ICU beds, which is 16.1 percent of the 2,299 total nationwide.
On the other hand, there are 3,509 patients who are occupying COVID-19 beds, or 19.1 percent of the 18,410 total COVID-19 beds allocated nationwide.
The sustained dip in COVID cases is backed by the “low” to “moderate” levels of COVID cases found in the National Capital Region (NCR) and 21 Luzon provinces.
Data released by the independent OCTA Research showed that 16 areas are now at low level while the other 6 areas are with moderate positivity rates, as of January 21.
“Many provinces have low positivity rate or at less than 5 percent,” said OCTA fellow Guido David in a social media post on Monday.
The 16 areas with low positivity rates are Cagayan (4.5%), Zambales (4.3%), Batangas (4%), Albay (3.5%), Pampanga (3.4%), Nueva Ecija (3.1%), Ilocos Norte (2.9%), Laguna (2.8%), Bataan (2.5%), Benguet (2.5%), NCR (2.4%), Quezon (2.2%), La Union (2.2%), Bulacan (2%), Cavite (1.8%), and Pangasinan (1.4%).
On the other hand, the 6 provinces that are still with moderate positivity rates are Palawan (16.7%), Isabela (10.7%), Oriental Mindoro (9.1%), Camarines Sur (8.7%), Tarlac (6.6%), and Rizal (5.5%).
Of the areas being closely monitored, 18 are seeing declining positivity rates, while four still saw climbing positivity rates when compared to the previous week (January 14).
Those still seeing increased positivity rates are Batangas, Cagayan, Pampanga, and Zambales, while those showing drops in positivity rates are Metro Manila, Albay, Bataan, Benguet, Bulacan, Camarines Sur, Cavite, Ilocos Norte, Isabela, La Union, Laguna, Nueva Ecija, Oriental Mindoro, Palawan, Pangasinan, Quezon, Rizal, and Tarlac.
To recall, the World Health Organization (WHO) has set the threshold for positivity rate for COVID-19 at 5 percent, which means the transmission is under control.
Positivity rate is the percentage of people, who test positive for the virus, out of the overall number of those who have been tested.
