PH COVID-19 positivity rate differs among experts, gov’t

MANILA, Philippines — While authorities claim that the country’s performance in fighting the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is faring well, the positivity rate among experts and the government differs.

On Friday, the Department of Health (DOH) claimed that the country’s positivity rate, the ratio of positive test results to the total number of tests conducted, dropped to 10 percent from April to May.

Based on DOH data, the country’s positivity rate on April 6 was at 17% where 4,144 individuals tested positive for the novel coronavirus from the 24,755 who got tested.

The positivity rate, meanwhile, on May 6 was at 10% when only 13,405 out of 131,786 individuals tested positive.

“Hindi hamak na mas mababa ito sa ating kalkulasyon noong nakaraang buwan at umaasa tayo na mas ababa pa ito sa mga susunod na araw,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in an online press briefing.

(This is no doubt lower than our calculation from the previous month and we are hoping that this will further decrease in the coming days.)

However, an expert earlier said that the country’s COVID-19 positivity rate stands at 7%, which is way below the 10 percent benchmark set by the World Health Organization (WHO).

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

“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 said in a separate online briefing.

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

Nonetheless, the positivity rate is one of the indicators that the COVID-19 curve in the country is flattening, Vergeire said.

However, she cautioned the public to remain vigilant and continue practicing non-pharmaceutical interventions against COVID-19 as long as there is no cure or vaccine yet for the disease.

“Hindi pa rin mawawala ang panganib at posibildad na magkaroon tayo ng second wave na maaaring kumalat ang mas mabilis at marami ang maaapektuhan,” Vergeire said.

(The risk and possibility of a second wave of the virus are still there.)

The Philippines has so far 10,463 confirmed cases of COVID-19, wherein 1,734 patients were able to recover while 696 others have died.

A local epidemiology expert earlier said the curve of COVID-19 pandemic is flattening, citing the recent decline in the number of new cases and deaths due to the novel coronavirus.

The country’s case doubling time has lengthened to “around four days” while the mortality rate shows a “more dramatic” slow down as it approaches the seven-day rate, according to Dr. John Wong, president and founder of think tank EpiMetrics, Inc.

The flattening of the curve is also “more evident” in Metro Manila where the vast majority of the COVID-19 cases nationwide are condensed, Wong added.