Despite garnering one of the lowest numbers for active COVID-19 cases in Metro Manila, Taguig City pledges to remain aggressive and proactive in implementing an all-of-government approach in fighting COVID-19.
This is what Mayor Lino Cayetano said on Sept. 8 at the site of the Lakeshore Hotel Mega-Quarantine Facility, where the Inter-agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF)-Coordinated Operations to Defeat Epidemic (Code) Team turned over face masks to the city under the “Mask para sa Masa” program.
“The Taguig leadership has ensured adherence to the test-trace-treat approach, beefing up our capabilities on all fronts. We have acted with urgency and innovated to cope with the challenges,” said the mayor.
“Finally, we designed our COVID-19 response considering the participation of all levels of government, our communities and even the private sector.”
“We have data indicating that we had so far mounted an effective response,” Mayor Lino addedm.
“On Sept. 1, the average number of active cases for the whole National Capital Region (NCR) was 898; Taguig’s average was 591. In active cases per 100,00 individuals, NCR was at 184 and Taguig at 60.”
Taguig’s Sept. 6 tally noted that, of 5,469 confirmed COVID-19 cases since Jan. 27, only 463 were active cases, even lower than the 591 average. Some 4,962 patients have recovered and 44 died.
On Aug. 29-Sept. 4, the COVID-19 reproduction number or R(0) for NCR was at 0.94. Taguig, as of Sept. 1, achieved 0.7005. Less than 1 here means each infected case causes less than one new infection.
The case doubling time is 19 days for Taguig and about 10 days for Metro Manila. This data represents the number of days it would take for the number of COVID-19 cases to double. The higher the number here, the better.
As of Sept. 8, the city has posted a case fatality rate of 0.83 percent. The region has 1.44 percent. Case fatality rate is the incidence of deaths among COVID-19 cases. Meanwhile, the attack rate, which tracks the percentage of the population that gets infected, is 0.56 percent in Taguig. In NCR, it is 0.95 percent.
In a meeting at Bonifacio Global City on July 14, IATF leaders lauded Taguig’s COVID-19 response. Health Secretary Francisco Duque III called the city a “role model.” Interior Secretary Eduardo Ano even invited the mayor to speak about Taguig’s “successful experience” to other local government units.
At the time, Taguig had conducted 18,503 PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests covering 1.87 percent of the population. Conducting 41,624 tests as of Sept. 8, the city is at 4.22 percent.
“We reached that percentage without our own laboratory. We are set to run a COVID-19 Laboratory, which can handle 600 cases a day,” said Mayor Lino. The city estimates that the laboratory can turn up 100,000 results by Dec. 31, 2020. The city would dramatically surpass the 10-percent mark which is the national government’s target by year’s end.
Already with five ways to get tested under the Systematic Mass Approach Responsible Testing (SMART) program (i.e., hospital testing, house-to-house testing, community-based testing through health centers, drive-thru testing and testing at national facilities), the city will launch the Taguig Mobile Testing Centers.
Another first following the drive-thru testing, it will be a roving state-of-the-art, medical equipped vehicle which CEDSU can use to conduct PCR tests in different sites all over Taguig.
The all-of-government approach manifests in the contact-tracing effort. The 12 members of the City Epidemiology Disease Surveillance Unit (CEDSU), 33 Emergency Response for Notifiable and Emerging Diseases (ERNIE) teams (with 165 members), 31 Barangay Health Emergency Response teams (with 155 members) and 819 barangay health workers can all be mobilized to track patients.
Where case clusters are discovered, the CEDSU and ERNIE quickly decide if a granular or localized lockdown, another method lauded by IATF, should take place.
Through this, the city quarantines the smallest area possible, such as homes or streets instead of puroks and barangays.
“The treatment is another crucial part of our high recovery rate and low number of active cases. We can take care of our COVID-19 patients at the Taguig-Pateros District Hospital, and maintain a good relationship with public and private hospitals just in case we need to transfer patients,” noted Mayor Lino.
“We also have quarantine facilities that take in suspect and probable cases, as well as confirmed cases who are asymptomatic or show mild symptoms. This system has helped us prevent household- and community-level infections, especially in areas where social distancing is just not possible.”
The city currently has five quarantine facilities, including newly built structures and repurposed government buildings.
