The National Capital Region is back to moderate risk case classification for Covid-19 as its positivity rate is now at 16. 4 percent, the Department of Health said on Friday.
"If we look at it, comparing this to the previous two weeks, we can see that it really increased," Health Officer-in-Charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a media briefing.
"Among the different regions in the country, the NCR entered again the moderate risk classification," she added.
She made the announcement days after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. allowed the voluntary wearing of masks in outdoor settings, particularly in open spaces and non-crowded outdoor areas with good ventilation.
However, she clarified that the recent increase in Covid-19 cases has nothing to do with the optional wearing of masks in outdoor settings.
"We cannot attribute the increase in cases to the scrapping of mask mandate outdoors, it will take us one to two weeks to analyze its effects. What we can say is the increase is due to mobility since face-to-face classes," she said.
Vergeire said 11 out of 17 local government units in Metro Manila are classified under moderate risk, while six out of 17 regions saw an increase in ward admissions in their hospitals.
She also said that despite the shift of the region to moderate-risk classification, she stressed that the healthcare utilization rate remains under low-risk with only 39 percent of its Covid-19 ward beds and 33 percent of intensive care unit beds utilized.
The Health official noted that among the 17 LGU in NCR, only Pasig and Muntinlupa reported an increase in their ICU admissions.
