PH’s COVID-19 cases may pass 1 million before end of April – OCTA Research

MANILA, Philippines — Total COVID-19 cases in the country may reach more than a million before the end of April, OCTA Research said Monday.

In its latest monitoring report, the group also underscored that while it observed some slack off in new infections in few cities in Metro Manila, there were also “rapid increases” in other cities.

“Before the end of April, the Philippines is expected to have recorded more than 1,000,000 total COVID-19 cases,” it said.

This OCTA Research report comes as the country recorded 11,028 new cases on April 4, pushing the nationwide tally to 795,051.

Metro Manila cities still yield the highest number of new infections, according to the group, although lower one-week growth rates were observed in the cities of Manila, Parañaque, Marikina, and Navotas, and downward trends or negative one-week growth rates in the cities of Pasay and Makati.

Nevertheless, the cities of Mandaluyong, Las Piñas, and San Juan registered “rapid increases” in new cases of COVID-19, which is caused by the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2.

“The goal is for these LGUs to have low or negative one-week growth rates in new COVID-19 cases very soon,” OCTA Research stressed.

The group then noted that hospital bed occupancy and intensive care unit occupancy for COVID-19 patients were above 70 percent for many cities in the so-called NCR Plus bubble, which consists of Metro Manila, Bulacan, Rizal, Cavite, and Laguna.

“The addition of hospital beds and ICUs for COVID-19 has helped reduce hospital bed occupancy in some LGUs, but these will be filled up soon as the NCR Plus is expected to have a high number of new COVID-19 cases during the month of April,” it also said.

The national government earlier extended the enhanced community quarantine in the NCR Plus bubble up to April 11 in a bid to arrest aggressively rising COVID-19 infections.