OCTA Research tags Mariveles, Bataan as ‘very high risk’

MANILA, Philippines — OCTA Research on Monday marked Mariveles, Bataan as among the “high-risk areas” outside the National Capital Region.

According to OCTA Research’s latest report, Mariveles’ reproductive rate rose to 2.53 percent, compared to last week’s 1.39 percent, after reporting 218 new cases of COVID-19 on July 11. This is 161 percent higher than the previous week’s average.

The incidence rate also increased to 35.67 per 100,000 per day, which the independent research group considered very high.

Mariveles also does not have any intensive care units in the area, which puts the overall state of Mariveles at “very high-risk,” said OCTA.

“If the increase in new cases is merely a clustering due to delays in reporting of testing laboratories, data in the next few days will confirm this,” said OCTA Research.

Meanwhile, OCTA also recorded very high reproduction numbers Cebu City and Lapu Lapu (1.41 and 1.74 respectively).

However, other indicators of the two cities remain low to moderate with their incidence rate below 9 percent.

OCTA said that if the two surpassed 10 percent incidence rate, they will be a cause of concern for Central Visayas and may signal a third wave of high COVID-19 infection rate in the area.

Other high-risk areas listed by OCTA outside Metro Manila are Davao City, Bacolod, Iloilo City, General Santos, Baguio City, and Tagum.

EDV