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Davao City, the hometown of President Rodrigo Duterte, logged its biggest single-day COVID-19 infections on Thursday, June 17, when it recorded 482 cases, a recent monitoring of Octa Research showed.
“This is the highest number reported in the city since the start of the pandemic in March 2020, and the first time the city reported more than 300 cases in one day,” the Octa team said.
As of Thursday, Davao City has 20,593 confirmed cases of COVID-19. Of the total, 4,250 are active cases or currently sick.
The Octa team, which has been studying the coronavirus pandemic in the country, said that the city has a reproduction number (R) – or the number one positive case can infect – of 1.47. Experts have said that an R above 1 means that the virus is spreading faster in an area. The goal is to keep it below 1 to make transmissions manageable.
The experts also flagged the intensive care hospital utilization in Davao City which is now at 91%.
Experts had raised the alarm of rising COVID-19 infections outside virus epicenter Metro Manila, especially in the Visayas and Mindanao.
If the government fails to control the increasing trend of new infections in Mindanao, Davao City would be in a difficult situation as it only has the Southern Philippines Medical Center as the main hospital catering to COVID-19 patients.
Davao City has a positivity rate of 14%. The World Health Organization recommends a positivity rate of below 5% for at least two weeks before governments can consider reopening the economy.
Aside from Davao City, the Octa team also flagged rising cases in Tagum City, Davao del Norte; and Digos City, Davao del Sur.
Outside Metro Manila, the Octa team flagged these cities as “areas of concern”:
- Davao City
- Bacolod
- Iloilo City
- Cagayan de Oro
- Dumaguete
- Butuan
- Tacloban
- Polomolok
- Tuguegerao
Meanwhile, San Pablo City, Cebu City, and Baguio City had a “significant increase” in COVID-19 infections.
As of Thursday, the Philippines has 1,339,457 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with 23,276 deaths and 1,257,774 recoveries. Of the total, 58,407 are active cases. – Rappler.com
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