The government placed Metro Manila and 4 nearby provinces Laguna, Rizal, Bulacan, and Cavite— collectively, the NCR Plus— under ECQ on March 29 due to record-high coronavirus infections, a bulk of which came from these areas. 

The period is set to lapse on April 11, with government expected to announce quarantine levels later Saturday.

But the research unit said another week of ECQ would be needed to decrease further the growth of infections and decongest hospitals in the NCR Plus bubble, which are nearing the breaking point due to a stream of fresh admissions. 

According to the report, Metro Manila cities Taguig, Makati, Muntinlupa, Malabon, San Juan have already reached 100 percent intensive care unit (ICU) occupancy. 

The cities of Bacoor and Imus in Cavite, and Antipolo in Rizal have also reported full ICU utilization. 

Quezon City (89%), Manila (88%), Las Pinas (82%) and Pasay (85%) are also nearing full ICU occupancy. 

"Government should continue its efforts to expand testing tracing and isolation to accelerate the regions' exit from ECQ," the researchers noted. 

The government is distributing modular tents to struggling hospitals and re-deploying health workers from regions where virus transmission rates are low. 

For the past week the country has also been reporting record-high cases and deaths. 

To date, the Philippines has confirmed 840,554 coronavirus infections, with 14,520 fatalities and 647,683 recoveries.

The OCTA Research Group estimates that the total number of cases in the country will reach 1 million by the end of April.