NCR COVID-19 positivity rate down to 5%, lowest since July 14 —OCTA

The COVID-19 positivity rate in the National Capital Region has decreased to 5%, the lowest rate since July 14, the OCTA Research group said on Saturday.

In its latest report, OCTA said NCR now has a low positivity rate and a low reproduction number of 0.55%.

The group said the positivity rate measures the proportion of the people who test positive using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).

“A positivity rate of 5% or less is an acceptable positivity rate according to the World Health Organization (WHO),” the independent research team said.

The reproduction rate, meanwhile, refers to the number of people infected by one case. A reproduction number that is below 1 indicates that the transmission of the virus is slowing down.

The group added that NCR also has a low healthcare utilization rate of less than 60% and a moderate average daily attack rate (ADAR) of 6.75 per day per 100,000 individuals.

Dr. Guido David, an OCTA Research fellow, said that possibly next week the NCR positivity rate in NCR will be close to 4%.

“Hopefully next week we will see something close to 4%. But based on history, the positivity rate in NCR plateaus around 3 to 4%,” David wrote in a Twitter post.

The government has extended the Alert Level 3 classification in the NCR for the first two weeks of November, Malacañang announced on Friday.

In a press briefing, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said the NCR and 10 other areas will be under Alert Level 3 from November 1 to 14, 2021.

The Department of Health (DOH) on Friday reported 4,043 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the nationwide tally to 2,779,943.

Total recoveries climbed by 3,224 to 2,686,692 while 44 new fatalities pushed the death toll to 42,621. —KG, GMA News