MANILA, Philippines — The daily average of COVID-19 cases in Metro Manila from May 13 to 19 rose by 19 percent compared to the prior week ,OCTA Research reported Friday.

OCTA Research fellow Guido David said that the seven-day average new cases in Metro Manila from May 13 to 19 rose to 71 from 59 daily average cases from May 6 to 12.

The COVID-19 reproduction number also increased to 0.90 (moderate risk classification) from 0.76 (low risk classification) the week prior.

A reproduction number—also written as R0 and pronounced “r-naught”—below 1.00 indicates that virus transmission is slowing down, as per the World Health Organization (WHO).

The positivity rate, meanwhile, remained the same at 1.2 percent.

“Overall, NCR remained at low risk,” David said.

Infectious disease expert Dr. Rontgene Solante on Thursday said there is a big possibility that there will be an uptick of COVID-19 cases in the country, even going up to as high as over 500 cases per day, due to the presence of of a new sublineage of Omicron, BA.2.12.1.