THE coronavirus disease (Covid-19) growth rate in the National Capital Region (NCR) went down by 15 percent, Octa Research said on Monday, August 22, 2022.Octa research fellow Doctor Guido David said as of August 21, the NCR’s growth rate was at -15 percent from the -1 percent of August 14.The reproduction rate, which refers to the number of individuals getting infected by one case, also decreased from 1.11 on August 11 to 1.03 on August 18.A below 1 reproduction rate indicates the slowing down of Covid-19 transmission.The region’s average daily attack rate was at 7.32 per 100,000 population while the positivity rate decreased to 14.6 percent on August 20 from 16.3 percent on August 13.Healthcare utilization in the NCR was at 37 percent while intensive care unit occupancy was at 30 percent.“At this time, the NCR remains at moderate risk. The decrease in cases and positivity rate in the NCR has held for two weeks now, a good sign moving forward,” David said.The NCR was one of the major contributors to the country’s Covid-19 cases.As of August 21, the country had a total of 35,271 active Covid-19 cases.Cases in the country have been trending upward over the past week due to the highly transmissible Omicron subvariants.The Department of Health has so far detected over 2,000 cases of Omicron sub-variants such as BA.5, BA.2.12.1 and BA.4 in the country. (SunStar Philippines)