The COVID-19 positivity rate increased from 7% to 15% only between December 2020 and January 2021,
National Health Institute (INS) experts warned on Wednesday.
Oscar Escalante, head of INS' National Public Health Center, recalled that positive cases were increasing in December, but the situation was not a cause for concern because the positivity rate ranged between 5% and 7%. However, it increased to 15% in January.
"This increase occurred in a period of 3 to 4 weeks. These cases were confirmations from molecular tests, which means that 15 out of every 100 samples taken test positive for COVID-19," he explained.
Escalante estimates that there are several factors contributing to this rise: citizen behavior,
the new UK variant that is already in Peru, the economic reactivation, and the movement of people from region to region during year-end holidays.
It should be noted that the number of people tested by molecular tests a day increased from 2,000 to 6,000 between December 2020 and January 2021.
However, the expert warned that this is not related to the positivity rate, since the latter does not vary with the number of samples taken.
"Obviously, the more you test, the more positive cases you find, but we are talking about proportion; then, this percentage does show an increase in cases and a higher level of infection," he stated.
The INS representative went on to say that the numbers of infections will continue to increase.
"Based on the latest data, we do believe that there will be an increase, for sure. The important thing is not only to control the contagion, but to prevent infected people from developing a complex clinical condition," he explained.
(END) SRE/RRC/RMB/MVB
Published: 1/20/2021