These include Bauan, Batangas with a daily attack rate of 11.9 percent as of October 11, Calbayog, Western Samar with 8 percent, and General Trias, Cavite with of 7.6 percent.
“Mas malaking risk na mahawa ka rito sa mga places na mataas ‘yung attack rate, especially ‘yung mga nasabi nating areas. Kung hindi naman sila magmo-move to stricter quarantine, mas lalong mag-ingat ‘yung mga tao roon (There is greater risk of transmission in places with high attack rate, especially the said areas. If they will not be moved to a stricter quarantine, residents should be more careful),” Prof. Guido David explained.
Among the criteria for an LGU to be moved to a stricter quarantine status is “if the daily attack rate is greater than 7% per 1000 (equivalent to 50 new cases per week per 100k population)” and “if there is an increase in new cases for two consecutive weeks,” the research group pointed out.
Malacañang responded to the recommendation of the OCTA Research by reminding the latter to “refrain from making these recommendations publicly” and endorsing suggestions privately to the Inter-Agency Task Force.
“Sa level po ng mga bayan-bayan, hindi na po IATF national ang umaakto riyan. It’s the provincial governor (In cases of municipalities, it is not the national IATF that will act on it. It’s the provincial governor),” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said.
Meanwhile, eight areas in the country were identified by OCTA Research as high-risk areas for COVID-19, including NCR with 902 new cases per day, Cavite with 208, Rizal with 131, Batangas with 121, Laguna with 121, Bulacan with 98, Negros Occidental with 93, and Iloilo with 81.
Despite having high-risk areas, experts are seeing a flattening of the curve based on the COVID-19 reproduction number in the country that is lower than one.
However, experts said a possible rise in the number of cases should be monitored amid the further gradual opening of the economy.
The OCTA Research has appealed to the government to boost testing, tracing, and isolation measures and for the public to comply with minimum health standards.
As of Oct. 13, there are 344,713 confirmed COVID-19 cases, 293,383 recoveries, and 6,372 fatalities nationwide. – Report from Mark Fetalco
