ON THE eve of the gradual reopening of the economy in the National Capital Region plus bubble, the number of active coronavirus disease 2019 cases in the country increased and the death toll edged closer to 19,000.
There were only 2,972 new recoveries, less than half of the new cases, despite the DOH’s time-based tagging methodology that declares mild and asymptomatic cases without symptoms for at least 10 straight days as recoveries.The new cases brought the cumulative case count to 1,131,467, of which 58,986, or 5.2 percent, were still active cases in hospitals and isolation facilities.
"Our average daily cases are decreasing. The growth rate is already in the negative here in the NCR plus," Vergeire pointed out.She said intensive care unit bed utilization rate used to be as high as 88 percent in the area, with some cities in Metro Manila reporting full capacity and referring patients to other hospitals in other regions in Luzon.But she said the public should not become complacent.
The NCR plus, which has a combined population of about 25 million, accounts for almost half of the country’s gross domestic product .