With a positivity rate of 17.5 percent, Metro Manila’s Covid-19 cases beginning October may exceed 2,000 per day, OCTA Research fellow Dr. Guido David warned on Thursday evening, Sept. 22.
Positivity rate pertains to the tally of individuals who test positive for Covid-19 out of all those who have been tested for the disease.
Independent OCTA Research group’s data showed that Metro Manila’s positivity rate jumped from 14.3 percent on Sept. 14 to 17.5 percent as of Wednesday, Sept. 21. This number is way higher than the “5 percent positivity rate benchmark” set by the World Health Organization (WHO) to prevent the occurence of another surge.
“The positivity rate has matched the previous peak on Aug. 5. It is now likely that this current resurgence will see higher positivity rates over the next weeks,” said David in a tweet.
David also noted an increase in Metro Manila’s seven-day average of new cases, which is now at 1,128, revealing that they have observed a 28 percent uptick compared to the previous week’s data. The region’s reproduction number likewise jumped from 1.19 on Monday, Sept. 12 to 1.26 on Monday, Sept. 19.
With these increasing Covid-19 indicators, the expert warned that Metro Manila’s Covid-19 cases beginning October 2022 may “exceed” 2,000 per day.
Meanwhile, in a separate tweet, David also disclosed that the nationwide positivity rate was at 14.9 percent as of Thursday, Sept. 22. The country's new infections, on the other hand, stood at 2,702.