WHILE THE number of Covid-19 cases are increasing here due to local community transmission, the University of the Philippines – OCTA Research Team has excluded Zamboanga City from the so-called “high-risk” areas for coronavirus disease.
The number of active Covid-19 cases in Zamboanga City is now below 700
with more than 2,000 people recovering from the deadly respiratory disease
since the start of the pandemic in March. From previous weeks, the active
Covid-19 cases rose above 700.
Zamboanga City Health Officer Dr Dulce Miravite said community
transmission remains to be the top cause of the surge in Covid-19 cases due to
the complacent attitude of residents.
Mayor Beng Climaco, head of the local task force on Covid-19, has
ordered a stricter measure to control the further spread of the disease as
Zamboanga remains under Moderate General Community Quarantine. She has been
reminding locals to follow the health protocols.
But the UP
scientists identified 9 local governments that are at risk of experiencing an
increased hospital burden due to high numbers of new Covid-19 infections,
according to a report by CNN Philippines.
In its October
25 to 31 monitoring report released recently, the OCTA Research Team identified
as “high-risk” the following areas: Pagadian City in Zamboanga del Sur province
in Mindanao; the cities of Makati and Malabon in Metro Manila; Baguio City, the
towns of Itogon and Tuba in Benguet province; Lucena City in Quezon province;
Iloilo City in Western Visayas; and Catarman town in Northern Samar.
CNN
Philippines said the OCTA Research Team which is monitoring the pandemic
situation in the country, based their reports on the number of cases recorded
daily, the Covid-19 attack rate, and the hospital occupancy in those areas.
“We are
concerned that these LGUs may experience high hospital burden in the coming
weeks that may stress their health care systems and overwhelm their medical
front-liners,” it said and urged the national government and local officials to
intensify their efforts against Covid-19, including testing, tracing and
isolation, in an effort to suppress a further spike in coronavirus cases.
It also
recommended more aggressive localized lockdowns with stricter border controls
in the high-risk areas. The scientists reiterated its warning against
complacency, saying the positive downward trends seen nationwide can easily be
reversed, as evidenced by the current and very significant outbreaks in Europe
and the US.
According to
OCTA Research Team, the country’s daily new cases continue to decrease even
after the Philippine Red Cross resumed its testing services recently
after stopping it for nearly two weeks due to a debt row with the state-run Philippine
Health Insurance, resulting in a 30% drop in the national testing capacity at
the time.
Last month,
the OCTA Research Team tagged the following areas as high-risk for
Covid-19: The cities of Pasay, Makati, Pasig and Mandaluyong in Metro Manila; and
in Luzon – Baguio City, Benguet, Calamba, Laguna; Angono, Cainta, and
Taytay in Rizal province; Lucena,
Quezon; Ilagan, Isabela; Batangas City, and General Trias, Cavite. And in
Visayas: Iloilo City and San Carlos City in Negros Occidental; and Davao City
and Butuan City in Mindanao. (Zamboanga Post)
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