THE number of coronavirus cases in the National Capital Region (NCR) remains on an uptrend, showing a steep increase in recent weeks.

In its COVID-19 situationer released Thursday night, the Department of Health (DOH) said the NCR’s weekly positivity rate, or the percentage of those people tested who are actually infected with the virus, is 13 percent as of July 14.

The region’s seven-day moving average in the current week (July 8 to 14) is 748 cases – higher by 29 percent from the previous week’s (July 1 to 7) 582.

For the entire country, the weekly positivity rate is 10.6 percent.

About 12,254 new cases were logged, bringing the overall tally to 3,725,382 as of July 14.

The top five regions that recorded the highest number of cases are NCR with 5,234; Region 4-A (Calabarzon) with 2,710 cases; Central Luzon, 1,161; Western Visayas, 1,106; and Central Visayas, 522.

“Most areas show a sharp increase in cases, with NCR showing the steepest increase, now almost at 750 cases per day while Mindanao remains on a slow uptrend,” the DOH said.

The healthcare utilization rates are also at low risk in all regions. The national severe and critical admissions remain less than 1 percent of the total hospital admissions.

As of July 13, the total COVID-19 bed utilization remains at low risk at a 23 percent utilization rate.

Available beds slightly increased by 476 beds or 2 percent while admissions also increased by 567 beds or 10 percent from last week.

The national intensive care unit (ICU) bed utilization remains at low risk at 17 percent.

Available ICU beds increased by 165 or 6 percent while admissions also increased by 54 or 12 percent compared to the previous week.

Of the total 7,629 COVID-19 hospital admissions, only 651 or 8.53 percent are severe and critical.

Meantime, COVID-19 deaths are on a continued decline from January which averages about one death per day starting May 2022.

No deaths were logged from July 1 to 14, 2022.

A total of 71,203,134 individuals or 91.17 percent of the target population are already fully vaccinated while 15,468,421 have received their first booster dose. Philippine News Agency