COVID-19 test kits (NQUIRER.net file photo)
The country’s COVID-19 positivity rate on Friday was slightly higher than the World Health Organization’s (WHO) recommended level of 5 percent as the Department of Health (DOH) reported 1,671 new infections.
The positivity rate on Friday was 5.6 percent, lower than Thursday’s 6.3 percent.
The positivity rate refers to the percentage of tests conducted that came out positive for COVID-19. The WHO benchmark rate, sustained for two weeks, indicates that virus transmission is under control.
The National Capital Region remained the region with the most number of cases with 253, followed by Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) with 171, and Central Luzon with 120.
The latest DOH COVID-19 tally did not include figures from three laboratories that failed to submit data to the COVID-19 Document Repository System, the DOH said.
The national caseload, according to DOH data, was now 3,658,892.
A total of 1,200, or 72 percent, of the new cases occurred in the last two weeks, from Feb. 12 to Feb. 25.
The DOH said there were 55,140 active cases. Of the total, 49,988 were mild, 645 asymptomatic, 2,784 moderate, 1,424 severe and 299 critical.
The 1,586 recoveries brought the total number of survivors to 3,547,528.
The 59 fatalities raised the death toll to 56,224, the DOH said. It said the 30 deaths occurred this month, while the rest happened between July 2021 and Jan. 2022 but were reported only on Friday.