(Eagle News) – The Department of Health announced another indicator for the flattening of the curve in the country — the decreasing percentage of positive cases as against the total numbers tested daily.
Health Undersecretary Dra. Maria Rosario Vergeire noted that in April there was a 17 percent positivity rate for COVID-19. In May, that number dropped to just 10 percent.
In a press briefing on Friday, May 8, the DOH spokesperson said that this positivity rate – or the number of those testing positive from among the total individuals tested – is an important indicator that the COVID-19 curve in the country is finally flattening. This is aside from the slowing of the doubling time of COVID-19 cases and of the virus-related deaths in the country from three to seven days.
On April 6, the number of unique individuals tested were 24,755, while those who tested positive were 4,144, showing a 17 percent positivity rate.
Vergeire said that if this will be compared with the statistics this month, there was a sharp decrease in positivity rate.
On May 6, out of 131,786 individuals tested, 13,405 turned out to be positive which means a 10 percent positivity rate.
On May 7, there was still a 10 percent COVID-19 positivity rate among those individuals who were tested for COVID-19 nationwide.
“Di hamak po na mas mababa ito sa kalkulasyon noong nakaraang buwan. At umaasa po tayo na mas bababa pa po ito sa mga susunod na araw,” Vergeire said.
“Ang pagbaba ng positivity rate mula sa 17 percent to 10 percent ay isa sa mga basehan para masabi na na nag-fa-flatten na ang curve,” she noted.
But Vergeire said that although this is very good news at this point, there is still a possibility that there could be a second wave that might be faster in spreading the disease.
This is still no time to be complacent, she said.
The DOH spokesperson said that since there is still no treatment nor any vaccine against COVID-19, a second wave is a very big possibility. It is just a matter of time, she added..
“Patuloy kaming nagpapaalala na hangga’t wala pang nadidiskubreng lunas o bakuna laban sa sakit na ito, hindi pa rin nawawla ang panganib at posibilidad na maaaring magkaroon tayo ng isang second wave na maaaring mas kumalat ng mas mabilis at marami ang maapektuhan,” Vergeire said.
She also stressed that the public should not be surprised with the increasing number of confirmed COVID-19 cases, as this is only a result of the aggressive mass testing being done presently to identify COVID-19 infected individuals in the country, isolate, treat them, and do also aggressive contact tracing.
(Eagle News Service)
