Metro Manila, eight other provinces breach WHO threshold of 5 percent Covid positivity rate

Rizal province with highest Covid positivity rate at 11.9 percent

(Eagle News) – Metro Manila’s COVID-19 positivity rate continued to increase, reaching 5.9 percent from 3.9 percent the previous week, according to OCTA Research.

Rizal province also reached a high of 11.9 percent Covid positivity rate as of Saturday, June 25.

Seven other provinces breached the World Health Organization (WHO) Covid-19 positivity threshold of five percent (5 percent).

After Rizal, the areas with the high Covid positivity rates are Laguna with 7.5 percent, South Cotabato with 7.4 percent, Cavite with 6 percent, Metro Manila or the National Capital Region and Pampanga which both recorded 5.9 percent, Cagayan with 5.8 percent, Iloilo with 5.7 percent, and Batangas with 5.6 percent.

Dr. Guido David of OCTA Research also listed the Covid positivity rate of the areas the previous week., where 10 areas were below the 5 percent positivity rate as of June 18.

Last week, the NCR only had 3.9 percent positivity rate. Batangas had a very low 1.2 percent that jumped to 5.6 percent in a week’s time. Cagayan also had a very low positivity rate at 1.9 percent, but rose to 5.8 percent after a week.
Cavite had 3.6 percent last week that increased to 6 percent on June 25. Last June 18, Iloilo only had 4.4 percent Covid positivity rate; Laguna had 3.1 percent; Pampanga had 3.3 percent; Rizal had 6.3 percent; and South Cotabato had 6.3 percent. After one week, all the Covid-19 positivity rates in these provinces likewise increased.

On Monday, June 27, Metro Manila posted 434 new Covid cases, with Quezon City with the highest number of cases at 103, followed by Manila with 55 new cases, Makati with 44 new cases, Paranaque with 41 new cases, Mandaluyong with 32 new cases, Las Pinas with 31 new cases, Pasig with 23 new cases, Muntinlupa with 20 cases, Taguig with 20 cases, and Marikina with 18 new cases.

 

WHO recommends that COVID-19 positivity rate should be below 5 percent.

According to the Global Health Institute of Harvard University, there is even a “growing consensus that driving the test positivity rate downwards of 3% should be a priority.”

“The WHO initially suggested a positivity rate of around 3–12% as a general benchmark of adequate testing, and has most recently recommended that test positivity should remain at 5% or lower for 14 days before regions reopen,” it said.

“In the U.S., comprehensive use of the top four layers of testing in the graph below would be likely to bring us a test positivity rate in the vicinity of 3-4%,” it added.

(Eagle News Service)