Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 4) — A member of the independent OCTA Research on Thursday warned that the National Capital Region’s (NCR) positivity rate by next week could reach the same level as when the country was dealing with the Delta wave.
“It could go as high as 25%,” OCTA Research fellow Guido David told CNN Philippines’ The Source. Positivity rate refers to the number of people testing positive for COVID-19.
David explained that they recorded a 25% positivity rate in NCR back in 2021 during the Delta wave. The highest positivity rate in the capital region that OCTA logged was in January 2022 when it reached more than 50% during the first Omicron wave, he noted.
Latest data from OCTA showed that the positivity rate in Metro Manila reached 19.7% as of May 2.
While this is increasing, David said the difference is that there are not as many severe cases compared to before.
“Hospitals will not become overloaded but many people will catch the virus,” he said.
Hospital utilization rate in NCR is currently at around 24%, which is slightly increasing but is not that high.
The Department of Health said in its latest COVID-19 case bulletin that there were 4,456 new infections from April 24 to 30, averaging 637 cases daily. This is 42% higher than the previous week.
Despite the increase in the number of infections, DOH officer-in-charge Ma. Rosario Vergeire said the government will not reimpose the mandatory use of face masks.
She said this will only be recommended once the COVID-19 situation becomes critical.
David agreed, noting that the public should know how to protect themselves from getting infected by the virus.
