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OUCH A child gets a jab against Covid-19 at the Baclaran Elementary School in Parañaque City on Monday, Aug. 8, 2022, as the government prepares for the opening of classes. PHOTO BY MIKE ALQUINTO
By Franco Jose C. Baroña, Manila Times
(UPDATE) FIFTEEN provinces in Luzon recorded "very high" Covid-19 positivity rates, OCTA Research reported on Monday.
The positivity rate refers to the percentage of people found positive for Covid-19 among the total individuals tested.
OCTA Research fellow Guido David said Camarines Sur had the highest jump in positivity, with 48.7 percent on August 6 from 30.3 percent on July 30.
Two other provinces recorded more than 40 percent positivity — Isabela with 47.6 percent and Tarlac with 41.9 percent.
Provinces with more than 30 percent positivity rates were Cagayan (30.5 percent), Laguna (33.2 percent), Nueva Ecija (38.4 percent) and Pampanga (35 percent).
Provinces with more than 20 percent positivity were Albay (28.2 percent), Benguet (22 percent), Cavite (21.1 percent), La Union (29.4 percent), Pangasinan (25 percent), Quezon (25.1 percent) and Zambales (28.6 percent).
In the National Capital Region, the positivity rate rose from 15.5 percent on July 30 to 17.5 percent on August 6.
The positivity rates in three provinces dipped slightly — Bataan (from 20.8 to 13.2), Batangas (from 15.7 to 15.2) and Ilocos Norte (from 10.4 to 9.9).
The World Health Organization recommends that the proportion of Covid-19 tests coming back positive should be below 5 percent to ensure that the spread of the coronavirus is under control.David said the "prolonged" Covid-19 wave in the country could last throughout the "ber" months, or the last four months of the year.
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"It started here in the Philippines around June, then July, August, so we should be in our second month already," said David. "But we're not at the peak yet. It's taking longer. Right now, it's looking like it will last up to four to five months, well into the 'ber' months."
David said the lingering Covid-19 wave may be due to other variants.
Another possibility is the waning vaccine immunity, since fewer individuals were getting booster shots.
"Most of them had their vaccines last year and fewer people got their booster shots, so there is waning immunity. Our antibody levels are going down. Then, adherence to minimum public health standards is always important," David said.
Covid-19 positivity in 14 provinces 'very high'
The Philippine Genome Center (PGC) said the Omicron subvariant BA.5 is the "most predominant" sample sequenced in the country in the past month alone.
PGC Executive Director Dr. Cynthia Saloma said the majority or "anywhere above 85 percent" of sequenced Covid-19 samples have traces of the BA.5 subvariant.
"We can probably say that this current wave is really the BA.5 wave in the country," Saloma said, adding that there were only a few cases of BA.2.3 which was the dominant strain last January.
Covid positivity rate 'very high' in five provinces – OCTA
She said that with the dominance of BA.5, several cases of BA.5.2 have been detected.
In the United States and Europe, the dominant subvariant is BA.5.1.
Saloma said that there are no new cases of BA.2.75, which is more transmissible than the original Omicron variant, in the country.
As of August 5, the Department of Health (DoH) has reported 95 new BA.5 cases. Of these cases, 67 were from Davao Region, 25 from Soccsksargen, and one case each from Northern Mindanao, Caraga and the National Capital Region.
This brings the total Omicron BA.5 cases detected to 3,107.
The DoH also reported two cases of the Omicron subvariant BA.2.75 in the country last August 2. The cases were from Western Visayas.
On Monday, the DoH reported that almost 700,000 Filipinos had received their first booster shot under the government's "PinasLakas" campaign.
The DoH launched PinasLakas on July 26, with a goal of boosting 23.8 million Filipinos or 50 percent of the eligible population within the first 100 days of the Marcos administration.
"As of August 6, we have already vaccinated almost 700,000 individuals for the first booster shot, and for the senior citizen, around 43,000," DoH Officer in Charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said.
Vergeire said the department was bringing vaccine delivery closer to communities to ramp up booster coverage.
Some of the places being used as vaccination sites are markets, places of worship, workplaces and schools, she said.
