DOH sees increase in Metro Manila's COVID-19 cases, positivity rate

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health said Monday it has observed increases in Metro Manila’s COVID-19 cases and virus positivity rate in the recent week.

“Nationally, the average cases remain lower in the recent week and case classification is still at minimal risk. However, increases in cases and positivity rate in the recent week were observed in National Capital Region and 14 of 17 of its areas,” DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a briefing.

According to Vergeire, the capital region remained under minimal risk classification for COVID-19 with a -3% growth rate in cases and an average daily attack rate of 0.69 per 100,000 individuals over the last two weeks.

However, the region showed a positive growth in COVID-19 cases in the recent week at 49%.

The average reported cases in Metro Manila increased by 49% from the previous week, now averaging 115 cases per day.

Vergeire also said the positivity rate in the capital region rose to 1.5% from December 19 to 25 from only 0.7% from December 12 to 18. Positivity rate in neighboring Calabarzon also increased to 0.9% from 0.5%.

The national positivity rate was also higher at 1.3% in the recent week from 0.9% reported in the previous week.

Positivity rate refers to the percentage of people who have tested positive from all those who underwent testing.

“We are seeing an uptick in cases but it's not significant enough yet. But it is an alarm, it is a warning for us that cases might start to increase so we need to help each other out,” Vergeire said. 

According to the health official, there was an uptick in hospital admissions in Metro Manila, but only 18% of the beds are occupied.

The capacity of the national health systems also remained at low risk.

The DOH reported 433 additional COVID-19 cases Sunday, bringing the total number of infections to over 2.83 million. Of the figure, only 0.3% were active cases. — Gaea Katreena Cabico