The COVID-19 positivity rate in the National Capital Region (NCR) rose to 10.6 percent over the past week, based on the monitoring conducted by the OCTA Research group.&nbsp;
In a <a href="https://twitter.com/iamguidodavid/status/1650672816851931136" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tweet</a> on Tuesday, OCTA Research fellow Dr. Guido David said that the percentage of people who were found positive for COVID-19 in NCR among the total number of individuals tested jumped from 7.3% on April 16, to 10.6% as of April 23.
He added that the average number of RT-PCR tests per day went down to 3,120 from 11,000 in April 2022 while the hospital occupancy remained low at 21%.&nbsp;
This comes amid the detection of the country's <a href="https://dzrh.com.ph/post/arcturus-subvariant-ph" target="_blank" rel="noopener">first case</a> of&nbsp;Arcturus or XBB.1.16 Omicron COVID-19 subvariant as confirmed by the Department of Health (DOH).&nbsp;
According to&nbsp;<a href="https://doh.gov.ph/covid19-variants" target="_blank" rel="noopener">DOH's latest biosurveillance report,</a>&nbsp;the latest genome sequencing from April 12 to April 17 showed that the first case was detected in Region 6 or Western Visayas.
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As of April 25, the country has recorded a total of 4,089,709 COVID-19 cases with 4,255 active cases.
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In a press briefing, DOH officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said that the spike in the COVID-19 case is not only attributed to the Holy Week break.
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"Maraming factors iyan. Nandiyan 'yung variants na pumasok na alam natin na mas transimissble siya kaysa don sa subvariants na meron. Pangalawa, sympre, 'yung paghahalubilo ng mga tao, not just in Holy week but because it it is the Summer season. Ang mga tao talaga ay nandiyan na ang paglabas at pag i-interact with each other," she noted.
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But Vergeire said the public should not panic despite the increase.
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"Ito po ay kayang pigilan. Basta po alam natin kung paano natin pro-protesyunan natin ang ating sarili. We are trying to move away from that mindset na everytime taas ang kaso ay tayo ay mag i-impose ng restriction," she added.
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Twenty-six areas have been placed under Alert Level 2 from April 15 to 30, 2023, according to the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) on Sunday.
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Under Alert Level 2, certain establishments and activities are allowed at 50% capacity indoors for fully vaccinated adults (and minors, even if unvaccinated), and 70% capacity outdoors.

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COVID-19 positivity rate in NCR rose to 10.6% — OCTA