A health worker (R) walks past people queueing up for Coronavirus swab tests outside a gymnasium in Manila on Jan. 7, 2022, as infections driven by the Omicron variant have tripled in the last two days in the nation's capital.

AFP / STR

 

MANILA, Philippines — Metro Manila's local chief executives have agreed that there is "no need" to shift to a stricter Alert Level 4 for the time being as the healthcare system's utilization numbers remain manageable, the Metro Manila Development Authority said Monday. 

 

This comes after the Philippines on Sunday set a new record for COVID-19 cases tallied in a day since the pandemic began for the second straight day with 28,707 fresh cases. According to the OCTA Research Group, the 16,924 of these cases that came from the NCR set a new record for the region. 

 

"What the mayors agreed on was that we will maintain Alert Level 3, and we will continuously monitor specifically [utilization] rates, but for the meantime the mayors see no need to raise to Alert Level 4," MMDA chairman Benhur Abalos told reporters at a press briefing Monday morning. 

 

Full Story: https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2022/01/10/2152998/faced-50-positivity-rate-metro-manila-sees-no-need-alert-level-4

 

-- © Copyright Philstar 2022-01-10

"Positivity" rates are NOT the same as sickness and hospitalization. "Case" numbers fuel media frenzy and panic.  Hospitalization numbers are the real story.