OCTA sees rising COVID-19 positivity rate in NCR, but won't reach 2022 numbers

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 17) — Metro Manila has recorded a slight increase in its COVID-19 positivity rate in the past week, a fellow of the OCTA Research group said Friday.

In a social media post, Guido David said the capital region logged a 3% positivity rate as of March 15 — up from 2.1% the week before.

"At this time, I expect it to increase further but not to the levels seen in 2022," he added.

The positivity rate refers to the percentage of tested people with positive results.

The World Health Organization has set a positivity rate benchmark of below 5%.

The Philippines has recorded over 4.07 million coronavirus infections, as of the Department of Health's latest tally.