INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — Metro Manila’s COVID-19 decreased further to 10.0 percent as of October 29 from the previous week’s 12.3 percent, said Octa Research fellow Guido David on Monday.
Together with Batangas (10 percent) and Bulacan (9 percent), the three areas had the lowest positivity rates among the places listed by David.
Most areas recorded a decrease in the positivity rate, but places such as Misamis Oriental, Negros Occidental, Isabela, Iloilo, Cebu, and Benguet displayed an increase in cases.
The most notable increases were in Benguet and Isabela, which jumped to 21.1 percent from 7 percent and 33.9 percent from 20.7 percent, respectively, in the same period.
On the other hand, the most notable decreases were in Tarlac and La Union. Tarlac declined from 50.6 percent to 36.8, while La Union’s positivity rate decreased from 20.9 to 12.8 percent.
Positivity rates as of October 29, 2022 vs Oct 22. NCR had a decrease from 12.3% to 10%. Increases observed in Benguet, Cebu, Isabela, Negros Occidental. #Covid @dzbb @DZAR1026 @News5PH @dzrhnews @ali_sotto @NewsRmn @dwiz882 @PhilstarNews @PTVph @manilabulletin @allangatus pic.twitter.com/FzQqTd6Wr2
— Dr. Guido David (@iamguidodavid) October 31, 2022
All this came even amid the detection of the XBB Omicron subvariant and XBC variant, which is said to be highly immune-evasive and pointed at as the leading cause of the recent surge in Singapore.
The XBC variant, on the other hand, a combination of the BA.2 sublineage of the Omicron and Delta variants, has been classified by the United Kingdom Health Security Agency as a variant under monitoring and investigation.
Based on the DOH’s COVID-19 tracker as of October 30, active COVID-19 infections are currently at 20,824.