Experts studying the coronavirus outbreak in the country said that COVID-19 is spreading fast in Pasay City, where the first cases of South African variant of the virus were detected.

In its latest report published on Friday, March 5, the Octa Research Group said that cases in Pasay City for the past week averaged at 150 per day, from February 26 to March 4.

“This is the highest average daily new cases reported in the city in its history, higher than what Pasay reported during the surge in August 2020,” the Octa team said.

The experts also noted that the reproduction number (R) – the number of people that one COVID-19 positive case can infect – in Pasay is at 1.83.

Experts have said that the goal was to keep R below 1 to contain virus transmission until a COVID-19 vaccine becomes widely available.

They identified Barangay 76 in Pasay as a COVID-19 hotspot because it had 128 new COVID-19 cases over a period of one week, which is “higher than the numbers reported in Muntinlupa, San Juan and Pateros.”

On Thursday, Philippine vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr that Pasay City is among areas to be prioritized for COVID-19 vaccines due to its spike in COVID-19 cases. (READ: In race vs variants, Pasay, high-risk areas priority for vaccine deliveries)

Metro Manila cases continue to spike

Meanwhile, the Octa team said that COVID-19 cases in Metro Manila continue to spike as the National Capital Region averages more than 900 cases per day over the past week (February 26 to March 4).

“This was an increase of 50% from the previous week and 119% compared to 2 weeks ago,” they said. R in Metro Manila is at 1.4.

The Philippines’ daily positivity rate – or the percentage of all COVID-19 tests performed that are actually positive – also hit 9.16% on Wednesday, March 3, according to Rappler monitoring.

It was the highest rate recorded since September 18, 2020, when the country tallied 9.23%.

On Friday, the country logged 3,045 new infections, the highest since October 16, 2020 – when the country reported 3,139 cases.

On Monday, March 1, the country began legally rolling out COVID-19 vaccines with donated doses from China.

The pandemic has so far infected over 115 million people globally. In the Philippines, a total of 587,704 cases have been recorded as of March 5, with 12,423 deaths and 535,207 recoveries.

The country has 40,074 active cases. – Rappler.com