DOH says no increase in Philippines' COVID-19 positivity rate

The Department of Health (DOH) on Tuesday said at least 2.7% positivity rate was recorded this week, noting there is no increase in the country’s positivity rate.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire made the clarification after independent research monitoring group OCTA Research said the Philippines’ COVID-19 positivity rate slightly increased.

Vergeire, however, noted that the DOH’s measuring of positivity rate is different from the research firms, saying they are measuring it by week.

“Wala naman kaming nakitang pagtaas ng positivity rate because we are monitoring this. Maaari 'yung pagmeasure ng ibang research firms different from how we measure,” she explained during a media forum.

(We have not seen an increase in the positivity rate because we are monitoring this. Maybe the way other research firms measure this is different from ours.)

“We measure our positivity rate by week, we don’t measure it per day because there are a lot of factors that may affect the computation of daily positivity rate which can bias ito pong nakukuha ninyong resulta (results that they get) and can affect the decision and policy making,” she added.

She said even other regions such as the National Capital Region (NCR) recorded a low positivity rate from 2.8% last week to 2.6% this week.

“Kaya kami po weekly ang ginamit natin na positivity rate from the previous week nga po ang Philippines ay may 3.2% na positivity rate ngayon po we are down to 2.7% so we are not seeing any increases in our positivity rate,” Vergeire said.

(We used the weekly positivity rate and from the previous week, the Philippines has a 3.2% positivity rate, now we are down to 2.7% so we are not seeing any increases in our positivity rate.)

“Instead, what we are seeing is the decrease in our positivity rate even in NCR from the previous week natin it was at 2.8% positivity rate now it is down to 2.6% for this week,” she added.

OCTA report

In a tweet, OCTA Research fellow Dr. Guido David said the country recorded a 2.5% positivity rate as of March 20 — a slight bump from the previous week’s 2.4%.

Philippines positivity rate up slightly to 2.5% while reproduction number increased slightly to 0.29. The country remained under VERY LOW RISK but let's continue to stay safe @dzbb @dzrhnews @DZAR1026 @News5PH @allangatus @ali_sotto @dwiz882 @NewsRmn @PhilstarNews @manilabulletin pic.twitter.com/pd9cbzh9dB

— Dr. Guido David (@iamguidodavid) March 22, 2022

This is well-below the standard of the World Health Organization (WHO) of less than 5%. If the rate is 5% or higher, it means there is a high transmission rate of the virus.

The country’s COVID-19 reproduction number, meanwhile, increased to 0.29% as of March 18 in contrast to the reported 0.23% on March 11.

Despite the growth in numbers, Guido maintained the Philippines will remain under “very low risk” for COVID-19.

The Philippines on Monday recorded a total of 3,572 new COVID-19 cases from March 14 to March 20, 13% lower than the cases reported last week.

Based on the DOH’s weekly case bulletin, the daily case average for the week was 510.

There were also 415 new cases logged on Monday, the DOH said in a later update, bringing the nationwide tally to 3,674,694.—AOL, GMA News