Davao City records its highest new COVID cases since start of pandemic

FILE PHOTO: Colorized scanning electron micrograph of an apoptotic cell (greenish brown) heavily infected with SARS-COV-2 virus particles (pink), also known as novel coronavirus, isolated from a patient sample. Image captured and color-enhanced at the NIAID Integrated Research Facility (IRF) in Fort Detrick, Maryland. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH/Handout via REUTERS.

MANILA, Philippines — Davao City reported 482 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, the highest in the city since the start of the pandemic last year, the OCTA Research said Friday.

“This [new cases] 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 research group said in its latest monitoring report.

Meanwhile, the city recorded a one-week growth rate of 26 percent and a COVID-19 reproduction number of 1.47. The reproduction number is the average number of cases that could stem from a single coronavirus infection.

The city’s ICU bed utilization rate (ICUR) also reached critical level at 91 percent, while its overall hospital bed utilization rate (HBUR) was at moderate risk at 67 percent.

According to OCTA’s report, Davao City likewise recorded an average daily attack rate (ADAR) of 12.74 per 100,000 population, and a one-week positivity rate of 14 percent over an average of 3,000 tests per day.

Davao City is among the “areas of concern” tagged by OCTA along with Bacolod, Iloilo, City, Cagayan De Oro, Dumaguete, Butuan, Tacloban, Polomolok, and Tuguegarao.

In the Davao Region, Tagum and Digos also had an increase in new cases, according to the group. Bacolod, meanwhile, posed a “significant” increase in new cases while its HBUR was at 70 percent.

In Iloilo City, both ICUR and HBUR were at critical levels. The city recorded a 22.76 ADAR, 85 percent HBUR, and 94 percent ICUR.

The upward trend of COVID-19 cases in Dumaguete, on the other hand, has slowed down after it was earlier tagged as the “area of most serious concern” outside the NCR Plus. However its ADAR remained very high at 52.21 per 100,000 population.

The research group also noted a significant increase of new COVID-19 cases in the cities of San Pablo, Cebu, and Baguio.

As of Thursday, the country has already recorded a total of 1,339,457 confirmed COVID-19 cases, composed of 58,407 active cases, 23,276 deaths, and 1,257,774 recoveries. Sofia Vertucio, INQUIRER.net trainee 

JPV