Octa fellow Doctor Guido David said the increase in the positivity rate in the region is around the same rate of increase during the Omicron BA.5 subvariant wave in June and the XBB in September.
“This projects to a December BQ.1 wave similar to the BA.5 and XBB waves,” he said.
David said the Covid-19 reproduction number in the NCR also increased from 1.11 on November 21 to 1.32 on November 28.
The reproduction rate refers to the number of individuals getting infected by one case.
A below one reproduction rate indicates the slowing down of Covid-19 transmission.
The weekly new cases in the region also increased from 264 on November 24 to 411 on December 1 with one week growth rate of 56 percent, as well as the average daily attack rate to 2.85 per 100,000 population.
However, David said the region’s hospitalization rate remained at low risk despite the increase from 26 percent on November 23 to 28 percent on November 30.
David earlier expressed opposition to the statement of a health official that the positivity rate is no longer a proper measure of the actual Covid-19 situation in the country.
“I disagree. The positivity rate, being a percentage, is more reliable than Adar, which is underestimated because of low testing and affected by backlog,” he said. (SunStar Philippines)