Quezon City is winning war vs COVID-19, says OCTA

Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte (center) with city health department OIC, Dr. Esperanza Arias, and city VAX action officer. Dr. Malou Eleria. Contributed photo

MANILA, Philippines — The latest December data from OCTA Research and the Department of Health have confirmed the continued drop of new COVID-19 cases in Quezon City, the largest and most populous city of Metro Manila.

Quezon City registered an average of only 25 new coronavirus cases in the first seven days of December, lower than the average 40 fresh infections it record in the last seven days of November.

Earlier, OCTA Research declared that Quezon City already achieved its 7-day average target of less than 30 new cases per day.

In its special report on Quezon City, OCTA Research said the city’s average daily attack rate (ADAR) is now at 0.91 per 100,000 population while its COVID-19 positivity rate is at 1.4 percent (CDC standard is 3.0) and health care utilization rate is at 35 percent.

The city is now at “low risk” using indicators from DOH and covidnowact.org.

“The goal now is to sustain the low number of new cases through excellent pandemic management using bio-surveillance, testing, contact tracing, localized lockdowns, and cooperation of its residents,” the independent monitor said.

To date, there is only one operational granular lockdown in the city. It was an outstanding drop from August 20 when 70 special lockdown areas were implemented, affecting 3,600 families and 8,500 individuals.

Meanwhile, the DOH-NCR granted a certificate of recognition to the Quezon City government for attaining the highest vaccination rate in Metro Manila.

As of December 7, Quezon City has a total of 1.8 million fully vaccinated individuals, or 109.23 percent of its target adult population. Meanwhile, some 181,496 minors in the city also received their first doses of the vaccine against COVID-19.