THE hospitalization utilization rate in Metro Manila has gone down after a spike in coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases in the country’s capital, said the Department of Health (DOH) Monday, May 17.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the National Capital Region’s (NCR) healthcare utilization rate, which refers to the occupancy of intensive care units (ICU), isolation, and ward beds particularly for Covid-19 cases, has gone down to 48 percent.

She said the ICU utilization rate, which was at 88 percent during the spike of coronavirus infections in February, slid to 61 percent, while the occupancy rate of temporary treatment and quarantine facilities stood at 36 percent.

Less than 60 percent health utilization rate, according to the DOH, is considered “safe.”

But Vergeire said the public and the government should not let their guard down, but rather intensify the implementation and observance of minimum health protocols to further bring the Covid-19 cases down.

“Sa katunayan po, dapat lang po natin lalong paigtingin at paghusayin ang ating pagsunod dito (health protocols) nang sa gayon ay tuluyan na natin pong mapababa ang mga kaso dito sa NCR (National Capital Region) and the other areas in the country,” she said in a virtual press conference.

Meantime, the Octa Research Group said in its bulletin released Monday, May 17, that the average daily new Covid-19 cases in the NCR has decreased by 27 percent over the past week, May 10 to 16.

It said the reproduction number in the region for the May 10-16 period was 0.57, while the positive rate was down to 11 percent.

Octa said the daily attack rate (Adar) was 10.7 per 100,000 people.

“DOH considers Adar above 10 as high risk, while Adar below 10 is classified as moderate risk,” it said.

As of May 16, the Philippines has 54,904 active Covid-19 cases. It recorded a total of 1,143,963 infections, with 19,191 deaths and 1,069,868 recoveries. (SunStar Philippines)