Nationwide COVID-19 positivity rate at 12.5 percent - DOH

MANILA, September 16 ------ A slight increase in COVID-19 positivity rate was observed in the country, the Department of Health said.

"Overall, national positivity rate increased to 12.5 percent from 12 percent last week," the agency said in a statement. Positivity rate refers to the percentage of all tests reported that are positive. The World Health Organization recommends a 5-percent threshold for COVID-19 positivity rate. Meanwhile, the country is averaging 2,201 daily coronavirus infections as of Sept. 14, the DOH said. "Nationally, we are seeing a slow continued decline in cases, with reported cases in the recent week being 7 percent lower than the previous, which recorded an average of 2,369 cases daily," the agency added.

The country logged 1,709 fresh COVID-19 cases, raising its tally to 3,911,487. The data includes 62,416 deaths and 24,139 active cases. This comes as President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. issued an executive order scrapping the outdoor mask mandate. According to the order, face masks should still be worn in indoor private or public establishments, public transportation, and outdoor settings where physical distancing cannot be maintained. The same order said individuals who are not fully vaccinated, senior citizens, and the immunocompromised are highly encouraged to wear their masks.

Some health experts have raised concern it would drive infections anew. As of Sept. 12, almost 72.8 million Filipinos have been fully vaccinated against the respiratory disease. Of the figure, only 18.6 million have received their first booster dose while some 2.5 million have gotten their second booster shots.

Source: news.abs-cbn.com