MANILA – The grip of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) on the country is slowly beginning to ease, with the Department of Health (DOH) reporting a lower positivity rate for the respiratory disease this May compared to the previous month.
In an online briefing on Friday, DOH spokesperson Dr. Maria Rosario Singh-Vergeire said as of May 6, the country has reached a positivity rate of 10 percent for the disease, with a total of 13,405 positive cases out of the 131,786 persons tested for Covid-19.
This, compared to a 17 percent positivity rate on April 6 where 4,144 tested positive out of a total of 24,755 tested.
“Di hamak po na mas mababa ito sa ating kalkulasyon sa nakaraang buwan at umaasa po tayo na mas bababa pa ito sa mga susunod na araw (This is lower than our data from last month and we’re expecting the positivity rate to continue to lower in the coming days),” Vergeire said.
She said the low positivity rate this month means that the country is “flattening the curve” of SARS-CoV-2 infections, the virus that causes Covid-19.
“Ang pagbaba ng ating positivity rate from 17 percent to 10 percent ang naging basehan para masabi na nagfla-flatten na ang curve (The reduction of the positivity rate from 17 percent to 10 percent is what’s telling us we’re flattening the curve),” Vergeire said.
However, she said the decrease does not mean that the country may begin to ease its measures against the infectious disease, as the danger of a resurgence in the number of infections is still possible.
“Ito po ay isang napaka-gandang balita ngunit patuloy po kaming nagpa-paalala na wala pang nadi-diskubreng lunas o bakuna laban sa sakit na ito (This is good news but we continue to caution and remind everyone that there is still no cure or vaccine against this disease),” Vergeire said.
She said that a “second wave” of Covid-19 may spread faster and may affect more people compared to the current situation in the country.
“Maiiwasan po natin ito basta magagawa natin ang mga (We can avoid this as long as we employ) proper or minimum health guidelines,” Vergeire said.
120 new cases
As of 4 p.m. on Friday, she said there are 120 new cases of Covid-19—84 new cases in the National Capital Region, 28 new cases in Region 7 (Central Visayas), and eight new cases in different parts of the country—lower than Thursday’s 330 new cases.
The total cases of Covid-19 in the country have now reached 10,463, with 116 new recoveries, reaching a total of 1,734 recoveries since the beginning of the outbreak.
She said there were six new deaths resulting from the disease, bringing the total death toll in the country at 696.