This file photo shows a worker in a protective suit, used due to the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak, waits outside the crematorium facility as the cremation process takes some two hours in Manila on April 29, 2020. (Photo by Maria TAN / AFP FILE)
MANILA, Philippines — The COVID-19 case fatality rate (CFR) in the National Capital Region (NCR) has noticeably decreased in the past month, according to the OCTA Research group.
“There has been a marked decrease in the case fatality rate in the NCR since the beginning of the year,” OCTA said in its monitoring report released Saturday.
According to the group, the overall CFR in the NCR dropped to 0.78 percent from June 1 to July 6, 2021, a 26-percent decrease from the 1.06 percent recorded in the first three months of the year.
“This means there are now less than 1 out of every 100 COVID-19 cases dying due to COVID,” it explained.
“In comparison, the CFR in the NCR in 2020 was 2.32%, i.e. more than 2 out of 100 cases were dying due to COVID,” added.
The group noted a decrease in the CFR among senior citizens 60 years old and above, from 5.8 percent to 4.29 percent, or a 27-percent decrease.
Meanwhile, the CFR among those aged 50 and 59 has decreased by 25 percent. For those aged 40 to 49, there was a 60 percent decrease.
“For the age 18 to 39 group, the CFR remained the same at 0.13 %. On the other hand, the CFR for the 17 and below age group increased from 0.07% to 0.20%, i.e. currently 1 out of 500 cases below 18 years old die due to COVID-19,” OCTA said.
The group said the reduction in the CFR in Metro Manila from 2020 to 2021 may be “largely” due to “improvements in treatment and management of COVID-19 cases” as well as the “continued improvement in efforts of our healthcare workers, and the efforts of the national and local governments in scaling up hospital capacity and equipment.”
The downward trend in NCR’s fatality rate among those 40 and above within 2021, meanwhile, can be partly attributed to the government’s vaccination program which kicked off in March this year, OCTA added.
“Although newer data may be subject to corrections due to lags in the reporting of deaths, the trend seems clear, especially since a comparable decrease in trends was not evident for the younger age groups,” the group said.
On Friday, the Philippines logged 5,881 new COVID-19 infections, pushing the number of active cases to 51,902. The country’s total case count is 1,461,445.
Meanwhile, 70 new deaths were recorded. The death toll now stands at 25,710.