Marikina flagged as ‘LGU of concern’ as Covid-19 cases rise in Metro Manila

MANILA, Philippines — Marikina City has been flagged as a “local government unit of concern” as Covid-19 cases in Metro Manila continued to increase following the burst of public activity during the holidays.

In its latest report, Octa Research team said Covid-19 cases in Marikina City rose by 127% compared to the previous week, as well as two weeks ago.

Marikina also had the highest positivity rate among LGUs in Metro Manila at 11%.

Meanwhile, Quezon City registered the highest number of new Covid-19 infections per day over the past week with 76 cases, followed by Manila (46), Pasig (29), Parañaque (25), and Marikina (25).

The city with the highest two-week attack rate was Makati, with 4.05 new Covid-19 cases per 100,000 population. Octa said the two-week attack rate for the whole of Metro Manila was 2.31 per 100,000.

Caloocan City remained as a low-risk area with a 1.04 per 100,000 attack rate.

None of the Metro Manila cities exceeded the 70% critical level for hospital occupancy, though Pateros is near a critical level. Meanwhile, cities Taguig and Las Piñas were above the 70% critical threshold for ICU bed occupancy.

Octa research has observed an upward trend of Covid-19 cases in Metro Manila following increased social gatherings during the holidays.

“There is a clear upward trend now, shown as a yellow line, and if this upward trend continues, the local governments will need to implement measures to reverse this direction before the pandemic gets out of hand,” the research group said.

It noted that the R naught or the reproduction number of Covid-19 in Metro Manila has increased to 1.17 as of Jan. 10.

The last time the R naught, which indicates the average number of people who may contract the disease from an infected person, was above 1 was on Dec. 21, it added.

A reproduction number of more than 1 means that the infection is spreading to more people since one infected person could infect one or more people.

Octa also noted that provinces recorded at least a 10% increase in the average number of new cases per day compared to two weeks ago.

The provinces of concern include Davao del Sur (including Davao City), Isabela, Quezon, Misamis Oriental, Pangasinan, Agusan del Sur, and Negros Oriental.

As of Jan. 12, the Philippines has recorded 491,258 Covid-19 cases: 23,532 are considered active, 458,172 have recovered, while 9,554 have succumbed to the disease.  [ac]