Experts studying the coronavirus outbreak in the country said that the pandemic situation in virus epicenter Metro Manila is “manageable at the moment.”

In its latest report published on Wednesday, February 3, the Octa Research Group said that the trend of COVID-19 cases in the National Capital Region has leveled off.

The reproduction rate (R) – the number of people that one COVID-19 positive case can infect – remained at 1, the Octa team said.

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

The experts also noted that there was no spike in cases in Metro Manila despite the holiday activities and Quiapo’s Traslacion.

“The positivity rate in the National Capital Region (NCR) over the past week remained at 4%, with an average of more than 17,000 PCR tests per day,” they added, which is below the 10% ideal rate recommended by the World Health Organization.

Weekly average of cases also remained “nearly the same,” the Octa team said.

“The situation in NCR is manageable at the moment, but a downward trend, with R < 1, needs to be sustained to consider loosening restrictions next month,” the experts added.

However, they urged the government and the public to work together in monitoring compliance with the minimum health standards to make R below 1 and to sustain the downward trend for at least two weeks.

 An R below 1 means that the the virus transmission is under control.

Nearly a year after the Philippines detected its first case of COVID-19, the government is still struggling with its pandemic response and has not started yet its vaccination program.

The pandemic has infected over 103 million people globally. In the Philippines, a total of 530,118 cases have been reported as of Wednesday, with 10,942 deaths and 487,721 deaths. – Rappler.com