PH logs 14 straight days of low positivity rate, meets WHO yardstick

CAUTIOUS RUSH The market crowds are back, like in Quiapo, Manila, on Saturday, as health officials keep reminding everyone about safety protocols lest the shopping glee later turn to holiday gloom due to a resurgence of COVID-19 cases. —MARIANNE BERMUDEZ

MANILA, Philippines — The country has maintained its COVID-19 testing positivity rate at the ideal level of below 5 percent for the 14th straight day since Nov. 13, when it was at 4.5 percent, while new daily cases stayed below 1,000, according to a Department of Health (DOH) report on Friday.

Out of the 38,998 people tested, 974 were found positive for the virus with a positivity rate—the percentage of people found infected out of those tested—at 2.5 percent.

According to the benchmark set by the World Health Organization (WHO), a positivity rate of below 5 percent should be maintained for two weeks, or 14 days—the maximum incubation period of the virus—before the transmission of COVID-19 can be considered contained.

The DOH has yet to make such a declaration or release its assessment at press time on Friday.

New cases down

On Wednesday, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said the department would seek WHO’s guidance before making such a declaration. Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire reiterated this position the following day.

On Friday, the DOH recorded 863 new COVID-19 cases, down from 975 on Thursday, bringing the nationwide tally to 2,830,387.

The country’s active case count to 17,853. Of these, 51.5 percent were mild; 21.57 percent, moderate; 6.6 percent, asymptomatic; 14.2 percent, severe; and 6.1 percent, in critical condition.

The active cases account for 0.6 percent of the COVID-19 cases in the country.

The DOH also said 791 people recovered from the respiratory illness, bringing the total number of recoveries to 2,764,517.

The death toll climbed to 48,017 with 142 new fatalities.

Latest data from the DOH also showed that 29 percent of the country’s intensive care unit (ICU) beds were utilized, while 18 percent of the mechanical ventilators were also in use.

In Metro Manila, 29 percent of the ICU beds are utilized, while 19 percent of the ventilators are in use.

Based on the latest case bulletin, two laboratories were not operational on Nov. 24, while two laboratories failed to submit data to the COVID-19 Document Repository System. —Tina G. Santos and Inquirer Research