THE number of new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases reported daily over the past seven days has returned to above the 1,000-mark, the Department of Health (DOH) reported yesterday.
Based on the COVID-19 case bulletin, average daily cases from November 7 to 13 rose by 43 percent, or 1,296 cases per day or a total of 9,069 infections in the past seven days.
The DOH reported only 907 cases daily during October 31 to November 6.
The case bulletin showed six additional severe and critical case during the past week and 113 new deaths.
The DOH said there are currently 613 severe and critical cases in the country as of November 13.
Of the number, 524 are occupying ICU beds or 21.3 percent of the 2,465 total nationwide.
On the other hand, there are 5,363 patients occupying COVID-19 beds, which is 25.8 percent of the 20,825 total beds allocated nationwide.
The independent OCTA Research group said 17 areas in the country continue to have “high” to “very high” COVID-19 positivity rates.
The OCTA said six have very high while 11 have high positivity rates out of the 23 areas it is closely monitoring as of November 12.
Areas with “very high” positivity rates are Isabela (44.1%), Aklan (36.3%), Camarines Sur (33.3%), Benguet (32%), Tarlac (30.3%), and Misamis Oriental (24.6%).
Of the six areas, Aklan, Camarines Sur, and Isabela increased from a week ago, while Benguet, Misamis Oriental, and Tarlac went down.
On the other hand, areas with high positivity rates are La Union (15.8%), Negros Occidental (14.8%), Laguna (14.4%), Bataan (14.3%), Cagayan (14.2%), Pangasinan (14%), Cebu (11.6%), Pampanga (11.2%), Rizal (10.3%), Iloilo (10.2%), and Cavite (10.1%).
On the rise compared to the previous week are Bataan, Cagayan, Cebu, La Union, Laguna, and Pampanga, while seeing decreasing rates are Cavite, Iloilo, Negros Occidental, Pangasinan, and Rizal.
Meanwhile, six areas currently registered “moderate” positivity rates, namely Davao del Sur (8.7%), South Cotabato (8.2%), Zambales (7.6%), National Capital Region (7.5%), Bulacan (6.4%), and Batangas (6.3%).
Bulacan was the only one that increased from the past week, while the NCR, Batangas, Davao del Sur, South Cotabato, and Zambales have dropped.
The World Health Organization has set a threshold of 5 percent for positivity rate for COVID-19.
Earlier, OCTA fellow Guido David said they are expecting COVID-19 cases to be less than 500 per day for the entire country by the end of November based on the current trend.
