Ten regions in the country are considered “high risk” in COVID-19, the Department of Health (DOH) said Thursday.
According to DOH Epidemiology Bureau Director Alethea De Guzman, this includes the following regions:
- National Capital Region (NCR)
- Calabarzon
- Cagayan Valley
- Central Luzon
- Northern Mindanao
- Cordillera Administrative Region
- Central Visayas
- Ilocos Region
- Davao Region
- Western Visayas
According to De Guzman, 3 of the regions saw high bed and intensive care unit (ICU) utilization rates.
“What we’d like to flag are Region 4A, 3 and 2 (Calabarzon, Central Luzon at Cagayan Valley) kung saan parehong bed utilization nila ay high risk na at humihigit 80 percent ang kanilang ICU utilization rate,” she said.
NCR, 9 other regions considered ‘high risk’ in COVID-19: DOH
In NCR, only Manila, Caloocan, and Mandaluyong are under Alert Level 3, which means they have a low or moderate risk in bed and ICU utilization rate.
Other areas in Metro Manila are below the highest Alert Level 4. This means that the utilization rate of their beds and ICUs is more than 70 percent.
The modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) is the second most stringent of the 4 community quarantine statuses. Metro Manila until the end of the month is on MECQ to control the spread of COVID-19.
Earlier, the Department of Health (DOH) has seen a community transmission of Delta variant in Metro Manila and Calabarzon but noted the need for “further evidence.”
“Currently, we have seen and observed, especially in NCR and Region 4A, na talagang mukhang community transmission na ito. Nakita natin na wala nang link ang mga kaso sa bawat isa. We are seeing clustering of cases in these two big regions,” she said.
“Definitely, I can tell all of you, Region 4A and NCR, nandiyan na po [it is there], we can observe that already although we need further evidence, but there is community transmission already in these areas,” she added.
According to Philippine Genome Center chief Dr. Cynthia Saloma, samples collected for genome sequencing in June already showed a community transmission of the Delta variant.
Vergeire agreed but noted that the Philippines has no capacity to confirm community transmission yet.
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