PH COVID-19 positivity rate way below global benchmark, expert says

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines’ COVID-19 positivity rate stands at 7 percent — still way below the 10 percent benchmark set by the World Health Organization (WHO).

This, according to Dr. Anna Lisa Ong-Lim, chief of the Infection and Tropical Disease department of the Philippine General Hospital, translates to a “good performance” in battling the respiratory disease.

“We should look at the numbers in relation to the number of tests conducted,” Lim said in an online press briefing Friday.

“Currently we have around 7 percent. So ano bang sinasabi ni WHO? Ang magandang standard, ang magandang benchmark is about 10 percent. So we are actually within that mark and that’s actually a good performance,” she added.

(Currently we have around 7 percent, so what is the WHO says about this? The good standard, the good benchmark is about 10 percent.)

Positivity rate is the ratio of positive test results to the total number of tests conducted.

As of May 6, a total of 130,990 unique individuals have been tested for COVID-19, the Department of Health (DOH) said.

The total COVID-19 infection in the Philippines now stands at 10,343, including 1,618 recoveries and 685 deaths.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said that the country’s low positivity rate was due to its increased testing capacity.

She noted that at the start of the outbreak, COVID-19 testing is only limited to those who have symptoms and those who belong to the vulnerable sectors, which yielded the Philippines of a positivity rate of as high as 16 percent.

“At the outset, ang ating priority talaga are the severe, critical and the vulnerable. Kaya nagumpisa tayo na mataas ang ating positivity rate. I think  we even reach 16 percent  kasi nga masyadong biased ang testing natin towards these people who really are sick at masasabi mo na magpopositibo,” Vergeire said.

(From the outset, our priority in testing really is the severe, critical and the vulnerable. So we started with a high positivity rate. I think we even reach 16 percent because our testing is too biased towards these people who are really sick and those who will really test positive.)

EDV