MANILA (UPDATE) — The Philippines' COVID-19 cases decreased by 14 percent in the past week, a group of experts said Tuesday.

According to OCTA Research fellow Dr. Guido David, the negative growth rate was recorded from Aug. 16 to 22.

The country's virus reproduction number or the number infected by a single COVID-19 case is also 0.97 percent, he said.

"Nakikita natin na patuloy na bumababa ang bilang ng kaso sa buong bansa," David said in a televised public briefing.

(We can see that the number of cases are going down in the whole country.)

According to the Department of Health, the country reported 23,883 additional COVID-19 cases in the past week or an average of 3,412 daily infections from Aug. 15 to 21. This was 15 percent lower compared to the previous week, according to the DOH's latest bulletin.

The government's ongoing vaccination drive against coronavirus, which aims to increase booster shot coverage, is helping keep the virus at bay, David said.

With about 72.3 million Filipinos have been fully vaccinated, the country's "wall of immunity" is strong, he added.

Of those inoculated, some 17.3 million have received an additional dose while 1.9 million have received a second booster.

• PH still 'far' from 23 million booster target: DOH

As of Aug. 21, the DOH said the country's ICU bed utilization rate was at 27 percent, with 699 out of 2,586 ICU beds occupied.

Some 811 severe and critical admission were also logged as of Sunday, which is 9.7 percent of total COVID-19 admission, the agency added.

• Philippines logs 23,883 COVID-19 cases in past week; 321 deaths reported

In Metro Manila, COVID-19 cases have decreased by 12 percent compared to the previous week, David said. The capital region's reproduction number is at 1.04.

Healthcare utilization for COVID-19 is at a "stable" 37 percent, while ICU occupancy is at 30 percent, David added.

"Hopefully patapos na 'yung wave natin. I mean, hindi pa tapos. Andiyan pa rin naman 'yung risk of infection. We have to be honest with that pero at least, lagpas na tayo sa peak," David said.

(Hopefully, our wave is nearly over. The risk of infection is still there. We have to be honest with that but at least, we are past the peak.)

• COVID-19 cases may have peaked in Metro Manila – OCTA

He said he hopes the country returns to pre-surge level with less than 1,000 daily COVID-19 cases.

Watch more News on iWantTFC