SECURITY guards at the Manila City Hall give out masks following the reimplementation of a “no face mask no entry policy” on May 12, 2023. — PHILIPPINE TAR/EDD GUMBAN

THE PHILIPPINES posted over 2,000 COVID-19 cases on Saturday with a 23.6% positivity rate, pandemic monitoring group OCTA Research said. 

Of the 2,065 cases nationwide, 855 were from the capital region Metro Manila, OCTA fellow Fredegusto P. David tweeted. 

Total Active COVID-19 cases in the country reached 15,527, he added.   

There were 1,652 recoveries and no deaths reported.  

The World Health Organization (WHO) set a 5% threshold for positivity rate.   

The Western Pacific Region, to which the Philippines belongs, posted a 35% increase in reported coronavirus infections from April 10 to May 7, the WHO said in its weekly COVID-19 report published on May 11.  

But COVID-19 deaths in the region fell by 33%, it said.  

More than 2.7 million new cases and over 17,000 deaths were reported globally from April 10 to May 7, a decrease of 14% and 17%, respectively, compared to the previous 28 days, the WHO said.  

“The picture is mixed at the regional level, with increases in reported cases seen in the South-East Asia and Western Pacific regions and decreases in other regions,” it said.   

As of May 7, more than 765 million cases and over 6.9 million deaths have been reported globally.  

Last week, Health officer Maria Rosario S. Vergeire urged the Filipino public to remain vigilant even after the WHO declared that COVID-19 is no longer a global health emergency.  

“The Public Health Emergency of International Concern lifted by the WHO is not equated to the pandemic,” Ms. Vergeire said. “So even though the WHO has already lifted the Public Health Emergency of International Concern status, they did not say that the pandemic is over.” 

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus earlier said the pandemic has been on a downward trend for more than a year.  

“This trend has allowed most countries to return to life as we knew it before COVID-19,” he said.  

On Jan. 30, 2020, the WHO declared the first recorded COVID-19 outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. The health emergency was classified as a pandemic on March 11 that year.   

Ms. Vergeire said an inter-agency task force leading the country’s COVID-19 pandemic response convened on Monday to discuss the implications of the WHO’s declaration for the Philippine pandemic response.   

All discussions of the body remain confidential until submitted to the Office of the President, she said. — Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza 

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