OCTA Research flags 4 ‘areas of concern’ for COVID-19

(FILE) FIGHTING VIRUS Testing done in booths set up at Burnham Park is Baguio City’s first line of defense in the battle against COVID-19. —NEIL CLARK ONGCHANGCO

MANILA, Philippines — The OCTA Research group tagged Friday the cities of Davao, Iloilo, Baguio, and San Fernando in La Union as “areas of concern” for COVID-19 due to increasing cases, high incidence rate, and healthcare utilization rate (HCUR).

In its monitoring report, the independent research group said new COVID-19 cases continue to escalate in Davao City, which had the highest daily average of new cases in the country and a reproduction number of 1.41.

Reproduction number is the number of new cases estimated to stem from one positive case.

According to OCTA, Davao City had an average of 324 new COVID-19 cases from June 25 to July 1, 43 percent higher than the 227 average daily cases in the preceding week.

Iloilo City had 103 average daily cases, 38 percent higher than the 75 cases during the previous week. Its healthcare utilization rate (HCUR) and ICU bed utilization (ICUR) remained high at 78 percent and 94 percent, respectively.

“Iloilo City also had an increase in new cases after a period of decline, while its hospital utilization remained high,” the research group noted.

Table from OCTA Research  

OCTA said Baguio City likewise posted an increase in new cases while its hospital bed and ICU utilization increased over 70 percent.

San Fernando had a “spike” in new COVID-19 cases with 38 average new daily infections from June 25 to July 1, which was 148 percent higher than the 15 average cases during the previous week. Its incidence rate increased to nearly 30 per day per 100,000.

Meanwhile, Calamba, San Pablo, and Santa Rosa in Laguna were included in OCTA’s list of 19 LGUs outside Metro Manila with the highest new COVID-19 cases per day. “However, only San Pablo is a slight concern due to its high incidence and high ICUR,” said OCTA.

“The trends slowed down or saw a decline in many LGUs in Mindanao and Visayas, including Cagayan de Oro, Tagum, Zamboanga City, Tacloban, Bacolod, and Butuan,” it added.

“Note that most of the LGUs in the top 14 had high testing positivity rates (TESTING) of more than 10%. Ten of the top 14 had very high positivity rates of more than 20%,” OCTA reported.

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