OCTA: Cebu City now ‘very low risk’
Walking in some streets of Cebu City’s downtown areas such as Colon Street shown here may be a solution to the worsening traffic. | CDN 2018 file photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines – Cebu City is now ‘very low risk’ for COVID-19, the latest report from the OCTA Research Group said.
OCTA, in its National COVID Update report dated October 27, classified the city as ‘very low risk’ after they noted a continued decline in the number of COVID-19 cases.
Based on their metrics, Cebu City’s average daily attack rate (ADAR) is at 1.72 per 100,000 per day while its reproduction number is at 0.42.
“Healthcare utilization (HCUR) is 19 percent while its testing positivity rate is just 2 percent,” they said.
While tagging the city under ‘very low risk’ for COVID-19 transmission, OCTA disclosed that their report does not reflect alert level ratings used by the Department of Health (DOH) and Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF).
The national government has placed Cebu City under Alert Level 2 until October 31. The most lenient alert level classification for COVID-19 is Alert Level 1.
ADAR, positivity rates, reproduction number, and hospital occupancy rates are some of the metrics experts used gauged to determine the gravity of an outbreak in a particular area.
10.27.21 report. Cebu City at very low risk while NCR, Rizal, Cavite, Bulacan, Batangas and Davao City at low risk. @dzbb @cnnphilippines @allangatus @DZAR1026 @dzrhnews @NewsRmn @News5PH @dwiz882 @dzbbsamnielsen @ABSCBNNews @haydeesampang pic.twitter.com/TW9170CzWu
— Dr. Guido David (@iamguidodavid) October 27, 2021
Meanwhile, OCTA classified National Capital Region (NCR) and its neighboring provinces under ‘low risk’.
“The reproduction number in the NCR was 0.52 while its incidence rate was 6.73 per 100,000 per day, positivity rate at 6 percent and healthcare utilization 35 percent,” they said.
However, they flagged Rizal’s occupancy rate for Intensive Care Units (ICU) as it reached a critical level of 94 percent.
“In Rizal, healthcare utilization was also less than 60 percent bu ICU occupancy was at a critical level at 94 percent,” they added.
They also classified Laguna and Pampanga as moderate risk.
“The reason for this is the testing positivity rates in these two provinces were still greater than 10 percent. Once the positivity rate drops to 10 percent, Laguna and Pampanga will likely be classified low risk as well,” they explained.
/bmjo
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