OCTA Research said COVID-19 cases in the National Capital Region rose to 3, 625 Saturday which is it described as '' a surprise increase.''

''This is obviously a surprise increase in cases. Resurgence, it beat the Jan. 20 projections for the first time. Hopefully, it is just backlog,'' said OCTA Research Fellow Guido David in his report.

The government announced Sunday that NCR and seven other areas will be under Alert Level Two from Alert Level Three starting February 1.

In a separate report, David said NCR, Cavite and Rizal are at moderate risk using their own metrics.

But it said positivity rates are still high, with NCR at 20 percent, 27 percent in Cavite and 30 percent in Rizal.

David said that cases ''are decreasing in Region 4A and 3 and the rest of the PH as a whole.'' DMS