Metro Manila Council (MMC) President and San Juan City Mayor Francis Zamora said on Wednesday, May 17, that the council is not yet considering the mandatory wearing of face masks in the National Capital Region (NCR) despite the rising number of active Covid-19 cases. During the latest MMC meeting, Zamora said the Department of Health (DOH) has presented data regarding the latest Covid-19 situation in NCR where it classified the region under the low-risk category due to its still low hospital utilization rate of 29 percent. He said the low hospital utilization rate in the region can be attributed to the very high number of vaccinated individuals in the NCR. "That is the positive effect of the vaccination. Overall, in Metro Manila, 127 percent of the target population was vaccinated," he said. "We are continually monitoring the situation and we are hoping that the number of cases will no longer increase," Zamora said. He reminded the public that despite the Alert Level 1 or the lowest level of alert status prevailing in the NCR, they must still observe the minimum public health standards and get themselves vaccinated against the dreaded virus, noting that vaccination is the key in eradicating Covid-19. "Ang aking panawagan sa ating mga kababayan, magpabakuna at magpa-booster at 2nd booster po tayo. Ako po mismo ay nagpa-second booster na matapos itong payagan ng gobyerno na ibigay sa general population, para mabigyan ang aking sarili at mga nakakasalamuha araw araw ng dagdag ng proteksyon at dahil nais ko pong ipakita ang kahalagahan ng bakuna laban sa Covid-19 (My appeal to the public is to get themselves vaccinated and boosted against the virus. I myself got my 2nd booster after the national government approved its administration on the general population and because I want to protect myself and those I encounter daily against Covid-19. I also want to show to the public the importance of getting vaccinated against Covid-19)," Zamora said in a radio interview. "Kaya magpabakuna at magpa-booster po tayo, dahil mahalaga ito para sa ating kaligtasan at pagpapatuloy nang pagbalik sa normal nating pamumuhay sa gitna ng mga bagong sub variants na lumalabas ( So please get vaccinated and boosted because these are essential for our safety and our return to normal way of life amid the emerging new sub-variants )," he added. Earlier, the city government of Manila announced the mandatory wearing of face masks among city hall personnel and its visitors. On May 14, OCTA Research fellow Dr. Guido David said the positivity rate in Metro Manila rose slightly from 22.7 percent on May 6 to 25.4 percent on May 13, which is classified as “high” in OCTA’s metrics. Positivity rate refers to the number of individuals who yielded positive results from among those who have been tested for Covid-19. David also noted that high positivity rates were observed in Bataan (from 12.5 percent on May 6 to 20.2 percent on May 13), Batangas (from 23.2 percent to 33.7 percent), Benguet (from 17.4 percent to 20.3 percent), Bulacan (from 20.1 percent to 25.2 percent), Camarines Sur (from 45.1 percent to 46.5 percent), Cavite (from 35.3 percent to 36.9 percent), Isabela (from 25.9 percent to 36.6 percent), Laguna (from 26.6 percent to 29.9 percent), Oriental Mindoro (from 10.5 percent to 29.5 percent), Pampanga (from 19 percent to 24.8 percent), Quezon (from 29.4 percent to 42.7 percent), and Rizal (from 38.8 percent to 44.4 percent).