Duterte wants unvaccinated jailed as COVID rate hits record high | Al Jazeera

The Philippines has reported at least 21,819 new COVID-19 infections, raising the country’s positivity rate to another all-time high of 40 percent out of 70,049 tests conducted, as President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the arrest of unvaccinated people who will violate stay-at-home orders aimed at curbing “galloping” cases driven by the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.

With the latest number of infections on Friday, the country hits a record-high positivity rate for the third straight day, while the total caseload since the pandemic approaches three million. On January 1, there were just 3,617 new cases reported.

The 40 percent positivity rate in the country is well above the World Health Organization’s five percent positivity threshold.

There are now 77,369 active cases officially recorded in the country – the highest since October 17. Meanwhile, 129 new fatalities were reported bringing the official death toll to 51,871, although the actual number of deaths could be higher.

The majority of the cases reported were from the capital, Manila, and its surrounding cities and suburbs.