THE Octa Research group noted Tuesday, July 19, 2022, the increase in coronavirus disease (Covid-19) positivity rate in five provinces in the country.Positivity rate refers to the number of people testing positive for coronavirus after getting tested.Octa fellow Dr. Guido David said that as of July 16, 2022, positivity rates were high in Aklan at 35 percent from 26.9 percent on July 9; Laguna at 22.6 percent from 18.1 percent; Nueva Ecija at 21 percent from 14 percent; Pampanga at 23.1 percent from 16.4 percent; and Tarlac at 27.6 percent from 16.7 percent.David said that Covid-19 cases in the country are on an uptrend, but he clarified that the increase is not alarming.”Most of Calabarzon (Region 4A), except siguro Quezon, medyo nakitaan natin ng pagtaas ng kaso. Pero hindi naman ito alarming. We just want the public to be aware na mayroong konting pagtaas sa mga area na ito kaya kailangan ng pag-iingat natin,” he said in a Laging Handa public briefing Tuesday, July 19.(We saw an increase in cases in most of Calabarzon, except Quezon. But this is not alarming. We just want the public to be aware that there was an increase, so we need to be vigilant.)”May decoupling — ibig sabihin, kahit na medyo mataas yung cases, o mataas yung risk, ang binabantayan natin, ang healthcare utilization,” he added.(There was decoupling, which means although there was an increase in cases, or the risk level, what we are monitoring is the healthcare utilization.)David said the country is expected to log around 2,000 daily cases in the next few days.In Metro Manila, he said the increase of cases may have already reached its peak and it will be on a downtrend already.He said the daily positivity rate in the National Capital Region as of July 17 was at 12 percent, two percent lower than it was on July 15.“Ang ibig sabihin nito, kung magtuloy-tuloy ito, baka bumaba na ‘yung trend natin sa Metro Manila, (pero) hindi pa sa buong bansa necessarily kasi may ibang regions pa na nagsisimula pa lang tumaas ang bilang ng kaso,” said David.(If the trend continues, the cases might go down in Metro Manila, but not necessarily in all areas in the country because there are regions where cases are starting to increase.)David said the rise in Covid-19 cases in the country may be attributed to the presence of the highly transmissible Omicron subvariant, as well as the complacency of the public, noting that not everybody is observing the minimum health protocols.The Department of Health (DOH) recorded over 14,000 new Covid-19 cases over the past week and more than 2,000 daily fresh cases on Monday, July 18.The Philippines now has a total of 20,524 active cases. (SunStar Philippines)