THE independent OCTA Research Team yesterday sounded the alarm over the sharp surge in cases in Dumaguete City, saying the provincial capital of Negros Oriental is already considered to be at “extremely high risk.”
In its latest COVID-19 Bulletin, the OCTA said that from June 7 to 13, the city recorded a steep 129 percent one-week growth rate, with 95 average daily new cases compared to only 42 average cases per day the previous week.
Dumaguete City’s average daily attack rate (ADAR), or percentage of the population that is at risk of getting infected during a specified time period, of almost 70 per 100,000.
“This classifies the LGU as extremely high risk. Dumaguete City is the area of most serious concern outside the NCR Plus,” said OCTA.
Other areas of concern, according to OCTA, are Iloilo City (ADAR, 27), Butuan City (48 percent growth), Tacloban City (65 percent growth), and Polomolok, South Cotabato (70 percent growth).
On the other hand, considered as emerging hotspots are Tagum City (49 percent growth), Legazpi City (51 percent growth), and Tagbilaran City (ADAR: 28).
Meanwhile, Davao City remains as the LGU with the highest number of new COVID-19 cases per day with an average of 182.
This is despite a decrease of 12 percent in the growth rate after seeing an average of 207 new cases per day last week.
In the Luzon region, Cagayan Gov. Manuel Mamba asked the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) to extend the modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) status of the province beyond June 15.
“We have an average of 2,000 active COVID cases and five deaths a day since June 1, and we have to bring this down ASAP (as soon as possible),” Mamba said in an interview yesterday.
Mamba said the city’s health facilities is still at low to moderate utilization rate.
“I believe that we could not let this worsen hence the request to extend our MECQ status until the end of June if IATF permits,” said Mamba, adding the extension would not have a serious impact on the local economy since “we are more agricultural than industrial so economy is not as worse than the industry-based provinces. We may have some problems in a few urban centers like Tuguegarao City.”
During the Laging Handa press briefing, Cagayan provincial health officer Dr. Carlos Cortina said the province has recorded a total of 15,000 COVID-19 cases.
Cortina said 2,542 of these cases, with 39 deaths, were reported from March last year up to March 2 this year. From March 3 to June 13 this year, Cortina said the number of infections in the city was 12,533 with 301 deaths. “The rise in cases is fast,” he said.
Cortina said the highest number of COVID-19 cases recorded in the province was in April with 4,787.
This month, from June 1 to June 13, Cortina said they have recorded 2,028 cases. If the trend continues, he said the number of cases this month may be almost similar to that in April.
“But what is scary is our death, from two to three per month, we’re now four to five deaths per day. We’ve had 100 plus deaths for the past three months,” he said.
Cortina said Mamba is due to release P100,000 to each of the 820 barangays of the province for the operation of isolation facilities.
Cortina said the province observed a rise in COVID-19 infections in the province after the IATF eased travel restrictions last February. — With Victor Reyes
