Metro Manila, June 28 ------ The positivity rate in National Capital Region and eight other areas surpassed the recommended benchmark set by the World Health Organization, the OCTA Research said.
The WHO has set a positivity rate benchmark of below 5%. The NCR recorded a positivity rate of 5.9% based on OCTA's data from June 25. This means more than 5 out of 100 people test positive for COVID-19. OCTA Research fellow Guido David said the provinces of Rizal (11.9%), Laguna (7.5%), South Cotabato (7.4%), Cavite (6%), Pampanga (5.9%), Cagayan (5.8%), Iloilo (5.7%), and Batangas (5.6%) are also seeing significant increases in their positivity rate that is beyond the WHO's standards. OCTA also said cases are projected to go up further before the "weak surge" could begin to temper by mid-July. "We are averaging 663 cases per day in the whole country. This could reach 1,000 by next week. We are expecting it to go up further, maybe it will reach its peak by first or second week of July then hopefully we start to see a decrease in cases," David told reporters. "It's going to be a weak surge."
Health reform advocate Tony Leachon told reporters that the situation is concerning, but is not yet a cause for "real alarm" while hospital utilization remains controlled. "It's a concern since we are actually increasing our COVID-19 cases. But no cause for real alarm considering the health care utilization rate is actually controlled. It's around less than 20% of the cases," Leachon said. "But we should be alert because of the increasing transmission and these may be undereported since most of the tests are actually done by rapid antigen tests." Leachon said he, along with other members of the newly-formed Advisory Council of Experts, have agreed on the importance of having a unified approach in addressing COVID-19, which entails keeping the mask mandate, ramping up the administration of primary doses and boosters, and eventually removing the alert level system to attract more investors to the country. He also called on the government to consider expanding the second booster drive to economic frontliners and people with comorbidities, and the commercialization of vaccines after the first 100 days of the administration of President-elect Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.
The Department of Health recently noted that daily COVID-19 cases in the NCR may reach up to 1,500-2,000 by the end of July. But it does not yet see the need to escalate Metro Manila to Alert Level 2 even if five cities and municipality are now under moderate risk classification.
Source: cnnphilippines.com
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