Nine local government units (LGUs) in the country have been identified as COVID-19 high-risk areas due to high daily case load, attack rate, or high hospitalization occupancy, the OCTA Research Group said.
The LGUs are Makati City and Malabon City in the National Capital Region; Baguio City, Itogon and Tuba in Benguet, and Lucena in Quezon for Luzon; Iloilo City and Catarman, Northern Samar for Visayas, and Pagadian, Zamboanga del Sur for Mindanao.
These areas may experience “hospital burden” in the following weeks that may stress their health care systems and overwhelm their medical frontliners, said the group of experts monitoring the COVID-19 situation in the country in its November 3 report.
The research team advised the LGUs affected to further intensify testing, contact tracing, and isolation efforts to curb the spread of the COVID-19 in their communities.
“Furthermore, in the identified high-risk LGUs, the implementation of more aggressive and effective localized lockdowns with stricter border controls is urgently needed to suppress further viral transmissions,” OCTA said.
The research group defines attack rate as the number of new cases per day relative to population. For example, a daily attack rate of 5% per 1000 means that there are 5 new cases per 100,000 of population per day. A higher attack rate means more people are getting infected.
OCTA Research observed that the number of COVID-19 cases in the National Capital Region continued to decrease as the Philippine Red Cross resumed its testing operations.
Despite this, they urged the national and local governments to strictly monitor and enforce compliance with minimum health standards as the positive downward trends in the country can be reversed.
“We reiterate that the positive downward trends in the Philippines and in the NCR may be reversed… if the government, the private sector, and the public become less vigilant and complacent in the fight against COVID-19,” the team said.
The team also advised LGUs to improve their evacuation strategies and plans to prevent transmission during disasters, saying that more typhoons are set to visit the country.