MANILA, Philippines — The acceleration of Metro Manila's COVID-19 positivity rate, or the percentage of tests coming back positive, has slowed down due to a lower testing output from laboratories, independent pandemic monitor OCTA Research said.
Citing data from the Department of Health's data drop, OCTA Research fellow Guido David said that the positivity rate in the Metro stood at 28.7% — just a slight jump from the 28% the day before and the 21% before that.
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As a result, David said, the number of new cases in the capital region on Monday is expected to stall to anywhere between 2,000 and 2,500 after authorities tallied 3,314 cases in Metro Manila on Sunday.
"The rapid increase in positivity rate in the NCR has slowed down, possibly due to a decrease in social and mass gatherings leading up to the New Year's Eve," David said.
Of the cases in Metro Manila, the cities of Manila, Quezon, and Makati topped the list with 949, 648, and 211 cases in their localities respectively.
The World Health Organization's benchmark for opening the economy is five percent of tests.
As of the Department of Health's latest tally on January 2, 19.6% of all tests around the country came back positive.
Earlier, OCTA said that hospital bed occupancy for COVID-19 patients in the NCR increased by 41% compared to the previous week.
"Hospital bed occupancy in the NCR is now at 23% while ICU occupancy is at 25%, still below the 70% critical threshold," David said in a tweet.
Nationwide, OCTA said it also observed an increase in the number of pediatric infections, "which account for more than 1/8 of active cases."
At the rate that the positivity rate was going earlier on, OCTA said that positive tests coming from Metro Manila may still eclipse the highest positivity rate of 30% recorded from back in April 2021 when the capital region was under enhanced community quarantine.
To date, health authorities have recorded 2.85 million cases of the pathogen, 21,418 of whom are still listed as active cases.
It has been 657 days since the first enhanced community quarantine was hoisted in some parts of Luzon.