MANILA, Philippines — The COVID-19 positivity rate—or the percentage of people testing positive for the virus among those tested—in Metro Manila continues to increase, as monitoring by OCTA Research showed that it reached 25.4% on May 13.
OCTA fellow David Guido said Sunday night that the seven-day positivity rate in the National Capital Region rose slightly to 25.4% from 22.7%.
“High positivity rates seen in Bataan, Batangas, Benguet, Bulacan, Camarines Sur, Cavite, Isabela, Laguna, Oriental Mindoro, Pampanga, Quezon [and] Rizal,” he added.
Based on their monitoring, Rizal had the highest positivity rate in Luzon at 44.4%, from 38.8% on May 6. This was followed by Quezon province at 42.7% and 36.9% in Cavite.
Oriental Mindoro saw its positivity rate jump to 29.5%, from 10.5% as of May 6, the data also showed.
Meanwhile, in Visayas and Mindanao provinces, the seven-day positivity rate in Aklan province hit 56.9%, from 41.7% in the week of May 6.
The World Health Organization recommends the proportion of COVID-19 tests coming back positive should remain below 5% to ensure the spread of the virus is under control.
The DOH has earlier stressed that the positivity rate should not be used as a sole indicator to evaluate the country’s COVID-19 situation as it can be affected by the number of people who get tested for the virus.
Last week, Health officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said that even though there was a noted increase in COVID-19 cases, “this does not translate to an increase in hospital admissions; severe and critical cases remain low and many of the cases are mild.”
The DOH also reminded the Filipino public that the threat of COVID-19 remains, following the move of the World Health Organization to end the global emergency status for the coronavirus crisis. — with reports from Gaea Katreena Cabico