The positivity rate – or percentage of tested people with positive results – rose to 11.6% based on 58,273 tests reported on Oct. 20. On Thursday, the positive rate was at 10.9% based on tests reported on Oct.19.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 22) — The country recorded 5,823 new COVID-19 infections on Friday, pushing the nationwide tally to 2,745,889, the Department of Health said.
At least 2.4% or 66,838 of the cases are active or currently sick, with 79.1% experiencing mild symptoms, 8.33% in moderate condition, 6.1% that are asymptomatic, 4.6% having severe symptoms and 1.9% in critical condition.
The death toll climbed to 41,520 – which is 1.51% of the case total – after 283 more people lost their lives.
Meanwhile, 4,748 others recovered, bringing the survivor count to 2,637,531 or 96.1% of the COVID-19 count.
The DOH said it reclassified 220 survivors into deaths after validation and deleted 45 duplicate cases, including 36 recoveries.
Two laboratories did not submit data and were excluded from the count. These laboratories contributed an average of 1.6% of tested samples and 1.6% of positive individuals in the last 14 days.
The rate has to fall below 3% to show that testing efforts are sufficient, according to US nonprofit Covid Act Now. For the World Health Organization, a positivity rate of below 5% means the infection has been controlled.
OCTA research fellow Guido David said Friday’s case count was lower than the group’s projection of 6,000 to 8,000 new infections.
“Lower again than our projected range, which is interesting but I hope they are not accumulating a lot of backlog. The number of deaths is also high,” David commented on Twitter.
The OCTA group also released a report, stating that the seven-day average in new cases in Metro Manila continued to decreased to 1,044 and the reproduction number also dipped to 0.46. The average is lower compared to last week’s which was at 1,824 and the reproduction number then was at 0.59.
Medical experts have repeatedly said that the COVID-19 reproduction number should be one or less, as anything higher would point to significant community transmission.
The National Capital Region’s positivity rate remained at 8%, OCTA added. Meanwhile, its healthcare utilization rate and intensive care unit occupancy rate dropped to 40% (from 47% a week ago) and 52% (from 61% a week ago), respectively. Both figures are at the low risk level for COVID-19.
