MANILA, Philippines — Taguig City has so far been able to test 10% of its residents for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), making it one of the most aggressive in COVID-19 testing, the city government claimed on Sunday.
The city government said that as of Jan. 8, it has conducted 98,811 RT-PCR tests, which is equivalent to 10.01% of their local population.
“The establishment of our own molecular laboratory helped us reach our target of almost 100,000 swab tests by the end of 2020 which is equivalent to 10 percent of our total population,” Mayor Lino Cayetano said in a statement.
“Kailangan maging agresibo sa testing, agresibo sa disease surveillance at agresibo sa pag-iingat para di tayo mahawa at di magkahawaan,” he added.
(We have to be aggressive in testing, disease surveillance, and implementing safety protocols so we could prevent the spread of the disease.)
Cayetano touted the low number of active COVID-19 cases per 100,000 population in the city, which is at four, making it the lowest in Metro Manila.
He added that Taguig’s four active cases per 100,000 population are far lower than the active cases per 100,000 population recorded for the same period in Tokyo, Japan (40); Seoul, South Korea (82); and Toronto, Canada (118).
So far, Taguig has 10,811 confirmed COVID-19 cases, but 98.16% of these, or 10,612, have recovered. This is higher than the 95.51 percent COVID-19 recovery rate for Metro Manila, Cayetano said.
The COVID-19 attack rate in the city is at 1.09 percent, less than the 1.13 percent attack rate for Metro Manila.
Meanwhile, the city’s case fatality rate is at 1.58 percent, lower than the average of 2.93 percent in Metro Manila. The city has 171 COVID-19 deaths so far.
“We will keep working hard by keeping our case fatality rate low. Isang buhay ng isang Taguigeño na maisasalba natin sa pagiging maingat, sa pagpoprotekta sa seniors at may comorbidities, ito ay nananatiling pinakamataas na prayoridad natin, to keep our citizens safe,” Cayetano said.
The city government will soon roll out the plans they have in store for the city’s recovery. The city government has allocated a total of P13.5 billion as its recovery budget for 2021.
This recovery plan also includes free COVID-19 vaccination for all Taguig residents.
Taguig City earlier said it allocated P1 billion under the city’s 2021 budget to purchase vaccines against the coronavirus disease. This is apart from the funds that will come from the national government for the vaccines, which the Department of Health has said may be delivered to the Philippines by February.
The Taguig City government said the first batch of vaccines from the national government would “hopefully” come to Taguig in March and April.
The second batch of vaccines from the local government was expected towards the end of the year.
“Hindi tayo mahuhuli pagdating sa vaccination,” Cayetano said, noting that demos for the inoculation would take place in the city as early as this month.