The positivity rate – or percentage of tested people with positive results – dropped to its lowest since August. The rate was at 25.9% based on 57,034 tests reported on September 13. It’s 1% lower than the Aug. 29 record of 24.9%.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 15) — The country logged 16,989 new COVID-19 infections on Wednesday, according to the Department of Health. It added that the relatively low numbers were due to low laboratory output on Monday.
The total number of infections is now 2,283,011, with 7.5% or 170,446 currently sick patients. At least 85.4% of active cases have mild symptoms, 9.8% are asymptomatic, 2.77% are in moderate condition, 1.4% have severe symptoms and 0.7% are in critical condition.
The country also recorded 214 more fatalities — over 400 in the past two days — pushing the death toll to 35,742, or 1.57% of the infection tally.
The number of recoveries rose to 2,076,823, or 91% of the COVID-19 count after 24,123 more people got better.
The DOH said it reclassified 135 survivors into fatalities after validation and deleted 44 duplicate cases, including 32 recoveries and one death.
The total excludes data from four laboratories that failed to submit their reports on time, the agency added. These laboratories contributed an average of 1.1% of tested samples and 1% of positive individuals in the last 14 days.
However, the figure is still within the critical level of above 20%, which according to the US nonprofit Covid Act Now means more coronavirus tests are needed. The standard positivity rate to show adequate testing is below 3%.
For the World Health Organization, the positivity rate should be below 5% to indicate that an area has controlled the infection.
The national government recently announced a new alert system that will replace the community quarantine classifications it has been enforcing in the country since the start of the pandemic.
Metro Manila is set to shift to Alert level 4 beginning Thursday, September 16. That means minors, senior citizens, pregnant women and those with comorbidities are prohibited from leaving their homes, among other restrictions.
