Positivity rate down to nearly 17% — Dizon

Philippine testing czar Vince Dizon on Thursday said the number of COVID-19 tests in the country that came back positive went down over the past few weeks, but still not within the limit set by the World Health Organization (WHO).

At a Palace news conference, Dizon said the national positivity rate rose to 25.22% on April 2 before going down to the current rate of 16.74%.

The National Capital Region, which is the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in the country, currently has a positivity rate of 17%, he added.

“We hope that our positivity rate will drop further,” Dizon said.

Positivity rate is the percentage of those who test positive from the total number of people screened for the virus. The WHO’s benchmark for the positivity rate is 5% or lower.

The Philippines is battling a surge in COVID-19 cases, prompting the government to reimpose strict mobility restrictions in Metro Manila and nearby provinces, ramp up testing, and beef up treatment and isolation capacity.

The country has so far recorded 1,020,495 COVID-19 cases, with 10,739 deaths. —  Virgil Lopez/RSJ, GMA News