Metro Manila COVID-19 positivity rate drops slightly

MANILA, Philippines — The COVID-19 positivity rate in Metro Manila slightly decreased to 18.1 percent as of Oct. 7, the OCTA Research Group said yesterday.

In a tweet, OCTA Research fellow Guido David said the positivity rate dipped from 19.1 percent on Oct. 1 to 18.1 percent on Oct. 7.

David said decreases in positivity rate were also recorded in Batangas from 13.9 percent to 10.9 percent, Bulacan from 20.4 percent to 17.7 percent, and Laguna from 19.7 percent to 16.9 percent.

Positivity rate in Tarlac, however, increased from 23.5 percent to 32.8 percent, OCTA reported.

Other provinces that recorded an increase were Davao del Sur, from 8.3 percent to 13.4 percent; Cavite, from 20.5 percent to 24 percent; Pampanga, 14.8 percent to 19.5 percent; and Rizal, 25.6 percent to 26.1 percent.

The National Capital Region had the highest number of new COVID-19 cases in the past two weeks at 12,587, followed by Calabarzon at 5,331; Central Luzon, 2,811; Davao region, 1,327 and Western Visayas, 844.

As of Saturday, the country recorded 27,065 active cases, OCTA said.

243 M COVID vaccines

Meanwhile, the Bureau of Customs (BOC) has cleared over 243 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine as of this month.

BOC-Port of Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) said it also processed three million doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 pediatric formula vaccine last month.

Aside from this, BOC-NAIA district collector Carmelita Talusan said the port has cleared eight COVID-19 vaccine brands – AstraZeneca, Hayat-Vax, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, Pfizer BioNTech, Sinopharm, Sinovac and Sputnik V.

“The BOC-Port of NAIA, under the leadership of Commissioner Yogi Filemon Ruiz, is committed to the directives of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to enhance its processes and initiatives to strengthen the vaccination drive against COVID-19, aligned with the national government’s recovery plan,” the BOC said in a statement.

Talusan said the BOC also expedited the release and delivery of vaccines through advanced clearance procedures.

She said the CoVax Special Handling Task Force, composed of members from the BOC’s security and operations unit, secured the vaccines.