The OCTA Group agrees with the Health department’s position to retain the general community quarantine classification in Metro Manila in July.
The independent research group said the number of new COVID-19 cases in the National Capital Region (NCR) decreased by 9% from June 21 to 27, down from 731 per day the previous week to 667 new cases per day.
Still, OCTA research fellow Dr. Guido David said the public must not be complacent as the virus is still present, as well as the threat of more transmissible COVID-19 variants such as the Delta variant.
“Pinaka-important ngayon is keeping the Delta variant out of the country and not letting it in kasi ‘yung mga countries na nakapasok ‘yung Delta variant, they have seen a spike in cases,” David said in a phone interview on Monday (June 28).
The research group also posted a 0.8 reproduction number of COVID-19 cases and a 7% positivity rate between June 21 and 27 in NCR.
“If we have vaccinated 25 to 30% of the population, maybe we can consider a modified general community quarantine in Metro Manila. Although hindi pa ‘yan population protection, that would be a significant number of vaccinations already in the NCR,” he said.
OCTA believes that with the continuous arrival of ample vaccine supplies to the country, NCR Plus 8 (Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, Rizal, Batangas, Pampanga, Metro Cebu, and Metro Davao) may be able to achieve population protection by the end of the year. – Report from Mark Fetalco / CF – jlo
