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Experts studying the data on COVID-19 cases said Saturday, February 27, that there was a “serious increase in cases” in Metro Manila as the government reported a new high in 4 months.
In its latest report, Octa Research Group on Saturday, February 27 said that the reproduction rate (R) – the number of people that one COVID-19 positive case can infect – in the capital region was at 1.43.
The group said that the goal was to keep R below 1 to contain virus transmission until a COVID-19 vaccine becomes available.
“The average number of daily COVID-19 cases over the past 7 days (February 20 to 26) was 662, an increase of 79% compared to the average two weeks ago,” the Octa report said.
“This is similar to the rate of increase observed in Cebu City, Mountain Province, and Benguet, where specimens of the SARS-CoV-2 variant was identified based on genome sequencing,” it added.
Octa identified Pasay City and Lapu-Lapu City as areas of “major concern.”
In the past week, new cases in Pasay City jumped to an average 107 per day from February 20 to 26, from the previous average of 44 cases a day from the week before.
“In Pasay, the average of 107 new COVID-19 cases per day was an increase of 365% compared to two weeks ago. This daily total puts Pasay at 3rd highest in all LGUs (local government units) in the Philippines,” said Octa.
On February 23, the Department of Health said that there was one person from Pasay City infected of the more contagious variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus from the United Kingdom.
The Philippine Genome Center has also identified a COVID-19 “mutation of concern” in Cebu City.
Lapu-Lapu City has an average of 58 new cases per day from this week, from 43 cases a day last week according to Octa.
“While Cebu City still had the most number of new COVID-19 cases, averaging 226 per day for the past 7 days, its trend has slowed down, as the reproduction number in Cebu City decreased to 1.42. Lapu-Lapu continued to have an increase in new Covid-19 cases while its hospital occupancy is at 77%,” the report said.
The report comes ahead of the first batch of COVID-19 vaccine arrival in the Philippines. President Rodrigo Duterte said the rollout of the vaccination program was non-negotiable requirement before lowering Metro Manila’s quarantine status to modified general community quarantine.
On Saturday, the Department of Health attributed the uptick in COVID-19 cases to easing of restrictions and the response of LGUs. – Rappler.com
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