MANILA — Metro Manila's COVID-19 positivity rate or the percentage of tests turning out positive for the virus rose in the past week, a think tank said Monday.

According to Dr. Guido David of OCTA Research, the capital region's positivity rate increased to 6.5 percent on April 8 from 4.4 percent recorded on April 1.

David added that positivity rates were also above 5 percent in the following areas:

• Benguet - 5.5 percent to 6.3 percent
• Camarines Sur - 10.4 percent to 14 percent
• Cavite - 3.6 percent to 9.3 percent
• Cebu - 4.7 percent to 7.7 percent
• Davao del Sur - 7.6 percent to 12.2 percent
• Isabela - 6.2 percent to 10.9 percent
• Misamis Oriental - 27.4 percent to 16.3 percent
• Negros Occidental - 2.8 percent to 7.6 percent
• Palawan - 4.1 percent to 13.6 percent
• Rizal - 5.2 percent to 11.8 percent
• South Cotabato - 8.6 percent to 10.2 percent

The World Health Organization recommends a 5-percent threshold for COVID-19 positivity rate.

• Filipinos told to mask up during Holy Week as DOH notes uptick in COVID cases

Last week, the Department of Health said the increase in COVID-19 cases was not a cause for concern as hospital admissions were manageable.

"In spite of meron tayong kaunting pagtaas sa iba't ibang bahagi ng bansa, ang ating mga ospital remains to be manageable," DOH officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire previously said.

(Despite the slight uptick in various parts of the country, our hospitals remain manageable.)

As of Easter Sunday, April 9, the Philippines has 9,493 active COVID-19 cases, the DOH's COVID-19 Tracker showed.

Since the start of the pandemic, the country has tallied 4,083,678 coronavirus infections. The death toll stood at 66,420.

To date, more than 79.1 million are fully vaccinated against COVID-19.