UP experts recommend placing 11 areas under stricter quarantine

Researchers from the UP (University of the Philippines) OCTA recommended that the government place 11 areas under stricter quarantine classification due to a surge in COVID-19 cases.

The experts’ report dated October 6 showed that 9 of the 11 areas are considered high-risk because their daily attack rate per 1000 is greater than 1.0%.

The researchers added these areas have an attack rate for the current week, which is also higher than the past two weeks.

“The national government may consider reverting to a stricter quarantine classification for the aforementioned areas,” the group said.

The UP OCTA Research team recommended the following areas to be placed under stricter community quarantine category:

Benguet (including Baguio City)
Davao Del Sur (including Davao City),
Iloilo (including Iloilo City)
Misamis Oriental (including Cagayan de Oro)
Nueva Ecija
Quezon
Pangasinan (including Dagupan)
Western Samar
Zamboanga Del Sur (including Zamboanga City)

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UP experts recommend placing 11 areas under stricter quarantine

They also urged the national government to strengthen its efforts in contact tracing, testing, and isolating to curb the disease’s spread in the high-risk areas.

The experts also recommended placing Cagayan and Isabela under stricter quarantine classifications due to limited healthcare capacity.

The Department of Health earlier reported that 11 public school teachers and a student tested positive for COVID-19 during the learning modules distribution.

“It may also consider a stricter quarantine classification in areas with limited hospital capacity and with high number of new cases such as in the provinces of Cagayan and Isabela,” the group said.

The OCTA Research team identified 13 areas where the COVID-19 situation is getting worse. It said these areas increased daily attack rate per 1000 compared to the two past weeks.

These areas include Benguet, Cagayan, Isabela, Nueva Ecija, Quezon, Pangasinan, Davao del Sur, Iloilo, Misamis Oriental, South Cotabato, Surigao del Sur, Western Samar, and Zamboanga del Sur.

As of October 7, 2020, the Department of Health reports the total number of COVID-19 cases at 329,637. Of the confirmed cases, 49,989 (15.2%) are active cases, 273,723 (83.0%) have recovered and 5,925 (1.8%) have died.