Although the number of COVID-19 cases keep rising, along with the positivity rate, there is still no cause for panic as the healthcare system can still cope and cases have not been severe or fatal because of the vaccinations and booster shots.
With many Filipinos now confident that COVID-19 is weaker now than in the past because over 71 million have been vaccinated with first two doses (though only 15.182 million Filipinos have received booster shots as of this July), infections continue to rise along with the positivity rate that jumped to 10.9 percent from less than 5 percent in recent months.
The OCTA Research Group of UP said 18 other areas nationwide recorded increased positivity rates as of July 9.
Other areas have likewise recorded an increase in positivity rates, with the following areas recording over 10% positivity rate, OCTA added. These areas are: Aklan – 26.9 percent from 21 percent; Antique – 17.8 percent from 17.1 percent; Batangas – 11.3 percent from 7.3 percent; Capiz – 18.8 percent from 6.2 percent; Cavite – 14.9 percent from 11.7 percent; Iloilo – 11 percent from 7.2 percent; Isabela – 10.3 percent from 3.4 percent; Laguna – 18.2 percent from 10.3 percent; Nueva Ecija – 14 percent from 3.5 percent; Pampanga – 16.5 percent from 9.1 percent; Rizal – 16.6 percent from 11.3 percent; Tarlac – 16.7 percent from 6.4 percent.
Positivity rate is the percentage of people who were found positive for COVID-19 among the total number of individuals tested.
The Department of Health said the current COVID-19 positivity rate nationwide is at 6.8 percent.
The health department said the positivity rate should not be the sole metric for assessing the country’s current COVID-19 situation, saying it is also important to consider the overall picture of transmission and case severity.
DoH says don’t panic
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the average new daily infections have risen to 1,535 cases, which is higher than the 1,009 cases recorded the previous week. She asked people not to panic but to be cautious.
Just from these numbers, we can see that the cases are rising and we should be careful, she said.
Vergeire said people must understand that “the virus is here to stay” and that new infections should be expected.
The most important thing is that severe and critical cases are kept at a minimum.
Another important thing is we minimize the number of deaths and that our hospitals are not full, she explained.
The DOH reported an additional 2,018 cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, bringing the total number of active infections to 13,818.
According to the DOH’s COVID-19 tracker, these new infections also raised the country’s caseload to 3,718,467 nationwide, with 3,644,009 recoveries and 60,640 deaths.
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