But the number that the ministry has its eyes on is that daily positivity rate. At the height of the Omicron wave, it had risen to 30%. The minister explained last week that once that number fell, they would start thinking about relaxing the COVID regulations. That number today is still pretty high - 16%. And Dr Manzanero says their goal is maintaining 5% or lower.
Dr. Russell Manzanero, Medical Epidemiologist, MOH
"In regards to your transmission positivity rate, then definitely you would want to have at least, we want to get back to 5%, we got all the way almost to 30%, in January, late December it was over 20-25% and those numbers were much the same every day. We are seeing now and over the weekend that's its decreasing, its less than 20%, but the aim is to be less than 5% and you want to maintain that for at least 2-3 weeks and based on that you can say okay these are the numbers received, so if we can get to that point and maintain it for at least 2-3 weeks then the numbers out there are decreasing."
