A Department of Health (DOH) official said the National Capital Region may possibly remain under Alert Level 4 as data shows no indication it should be decreased to Alert Level Three.

"Dra. (Alethea) De Guzman (from DOH) already answered that so far there is no data As of know, it shows that it can decrease, but it can still change," Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said in a briefing on Monday.

Alert Level 4, which was imposed by the government in NCR on Sept 16 to curb rising COVID-19 cases, will end on Sept. 24. The government lockdown streets, homes, business establishments and barangays which are found to contain clusters of COVID-19 cases for two weeks.

DOH epidemology bureau head Alethea De Guzman said as of now the DOH is "just reporting 4,347 cases per day, lower by 16 percent versus the 5,145 the week prior."

"For the NCR, their bed utilization is still moderate risk though it is lowered at 63 percent versus the 68 percbnt that we reported a few days prior. But when it comes to the ICU utilization, we remain at high-risk at 76 percent, slightly lower from the 78 percent reported a few weeks prior," she said.

"Although we’re now seeing a slowdown in our growth rates and reproduction numbers, there is still a large number of our population being affected. Our average daily attack rate in the National Capital Region right now is still in the 30's, meaning there are still a large number of populations in NCR being affected," she added.

De Guzman explained that the figures show the NCR may remain under Alert Level Four, but she added data is being studied.

"We continue to study our metrics and numbers and it is important that we have accurate data to provide right recommendations," she said. Robina Asido/DMS