COVID-19 positivity rate in PH at 2.1% from March 21-27, says DOH

COVID-19 test_positive. STOCK PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — The country’s COVID-19 positivity rate decreased to 2.1 percent from March 21-27, according to the Department of Health (DOH), down from 2.7 percent the week before.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in an online press briefing Tuesday that the latest positivity rate shows that “there are only 3,145 people who tested positive” for SARS-CoV-2 during the period.

Based on the COVID-19 bulletin released by the DOH on Monday, March 28, the country recorded 2,726 new cases from March 21-27 or an average of 389 new cases per day. The DOH said this is 24 percent lower than new cases logged from March 14-20.

Positivity rate refers to the percentage of people testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 from among all those tested during a certain period. SARS-CoV-2 was the latest strain of coronavirus that causes serious respiratory illness COVID-19. SARS-CoV-2 had a number of mutations including the Delta and Omicron variants.

The World Health Organization recommends a coronavirus positivity rate of 5 percent to indicate sufficient testing and controlled virus transmission.

According to Vergeire, a total of 21,725 samples were tested per day in the past week (March 21-27) which, she said, is 0.5 percent lower than the week prior.

Meanwhile, the government official also noted that the positivity rate in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) slightly increased from 1.6 percent last week to 1.7 percent.

“Sa kabila nito, walang dapat ikabahala dahil nananatili po na mas mababa ito sa 5 percent na positivity rate sa lahat ng rehiyon sa ating bansa,” said Vergeire.

(Despite this, there is nothing to worry about because the positivity rate in all regions remains below 5 percent.)

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