NCR Covid-19 daily cases on downward trend – OCTA

THE number of new coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) cases in the National Capital Region (NCR) dropped further during the first week of May from the previous week, according to the OCTA Research group, suggesting a downward trend in the region that had been considered the epicenter of the infection.

In its May 8 report, the group said the daily average from May 1 to 7 was 2,347 cases, which is 58 percent lower than the peak of the infections from March 29 to April 4 and is on the same level as the

period from March 11 to 17.

The reproduction number or R0 (pronounced “R-naught”) also decreased to 0.70, as did the country’s reproduction rate at 0.86.

Positivity rate in the NCR was down to 15 percent from a high of 25 percent.

Occupancy rate of hospital beds in the region is down to 51 percent overall, with the need for intensive care unit (ICU) beds now below the 70-percent critical level at 69 percent.

Aside from the NCR, the provinces of Cavite, Laguna, Rizal and Bulacan, which form part of the NCR Plus bubble, registered negative infection rates ranging from -1 percent in Laguna to -29 percent in Bulacan.

The OCTA report comes as President Rodrigo Duterte ordered police to enforce mandatory masking and to arrest violators.

New Philippine National Police chief Lt. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar assured the public, however, that they would carry out the President’s order fully respecting human rights.

Eleazar said in a statement in Filipino on Saturday that while violators can be arrested, “they should neither be punished nor hurt” and ordered his men to exercise “maximum tolerance” as he warned them that they will be held liable if they disobeyed his directive.

Eleazar said the penalties for violating the minimum health safety

protocols were embodied in local ordinances such as fines and community service.

The former commander of the Joint Task Force Covid Shield said the President’s order was directed at those who are “hard-headed” and sends a “strong message” that the national government was serious in implementing minimum health safety standard protocols to contain the spread of the virus that has so far infected more than 1 million Filipinos and claimed the lives of more than 18,000.

Covid increases

OCTA has flagged increases in the number of cases in some provinces, among them Negros Occidental with 35 percent and Misamis Oriental, 65 percent.

Cagayan de Oro, Puerto Princesa and Bacolod are “areas of concern” while occupancy rates of hospital and ICU beds remained high in Baguio City, Tuguegarao City, Cainta and Antipolo City in Rizal, Zamboanga City, and Calamba City, Laguna.

Reacting to the OCTA report, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said during the Laging Handa briefing on Saturday that the decrease in the number of new cases may be attributed to the lower number of samples processed by the laboratories.

She said from April 30 to May 6, the country’s Covid-19 laboratories tested a total of 342,000 samples compared with the 374,000 in the period of April 23 to April 29.

Asked if the country was ready to shift to a more lenient general community quarantine or GCQ by May 15, Vergeire said aside from the decrease in the number of cases, there will be more factors to consider such as the current healthcare capacity.

Proper disposal of used face masks

Meanwhile, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has renewed its call to the public to discard used face masks properly to prevent risks of Covid-19 transmission. “Protection against Covid-19 goes beyond following the minimum health protocols and the use of face masks and face shields. Our responsibility extends to the disposal of these healthcare items which are potentially contaminated,” Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu said in a statement on Saturday.

He underscored the importance of responsibly discarding Covid-19 litter, especially disposable face masks because these have “become the newest threat to animal life because of entanglement and have added up to marine litter.”

DENR Undersecretary for Solid Waste Management and Local Government Units (LGUs) Concerns Benny Antiporda, himself a Covid-19 survivor, emphasized the participation of households in the proper segregation of used face masks from other solid wastes. “Let’s do this so we won’t jeopardize the lives of garbage collectors and whoever takes out trash at home. If we will not practice this, and masks contaminate other solid wastes, these people will have the risk of getting infected by the virus and consequently infecting our own households in the end,” he said during his guesting in the radio program “Ang Tinig Klima” last week.

Unregistered face masks seized

Operatives of the Customs Intelligence and Investigation ServiceManila International Container Port (CIIS-MICP) seized over the weekend some P150 million worth of unregistered face masks and face shields and other fake products during an operation for the agency’s intensified efforts against smuggling and counterfeiting.

Operations head Alvin Enciso, chief of CIIS-MICP, said in his report to Customs Commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero that the illegal goods were uncovered following a raid on a warehouse in Binondo, Manila with the support of the Enforcement and Security Service and the Philippine Coast Guard.

The BoC (Bureau of Customs) is still determining the total amount of the goods preparatory to the filing of charges against the importers for violation of Republic Act 10863 or the “Customs Modernization Act.”