The Department of Health (DOH) on Wednesday said about 80 percent of the new coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) cases in the past two weeks were from 11 to 30 percent of the barangays in the National Capital Region (NCR) Plus areas and select highly urbanized cities (HUCs) in NCR.
In a statement, the DOH said the percentage was based on the Spatio-temporal analysis of the areas and cities.
It noted that such analysis supports the move to focus on imposing granular lockdowns on selected areas rather than wide-scale lockdowns of entire provinces, highly urbanized cities, and independent component cities, which “heavily impact the livelihood of Filipinos”.
“Additionally, wide-scale lockdowns might no longer be effective since data shows that the majority of Filipinos in NCR were mobile during the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) on Aug. 10 than the previous ECQ last April 2021 as more essential activities and workers were allowed,” DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said.
Based on a set of assumptions, the DOH found out that the total active cases in NCR may range from 152,000 to 330,000 cases by Sept. 30.
“This is not cast in stone since lower case projections are achieved when we improve adherence to the minimum public health standards, reduce case detection to isolation time, and increase vaccination coverage even at lower or less restrictive community quarantines,” Vergeire said.
With this, the DOH and other agencies are moving to more targeted and recalibrated actions toward high-risk activities, imposing localized or granular lockdowns at the household and barangay level and implementing targeted response strategies to prevent transmission and reduce strain on the livelihood of Filipinos.
The DOH urged local government units to conduct active case finding, reduce the time for case detection to isolation, and improve vaccine coverage to lower Covid-19 cases.
It also called on the public to continue adhering to the minimum public health standards, immediately isolate when symptoms manifest and seek consultation to help cut the transmission of Covid-19.
Source: Philippines News Agency
