SunStar Davao File
By THIRD ANNE PERALTA-MALONZO, SunStar
THE cities of Davao, General Santos, Iligan and Zamboanga City in Mindanao have deescalated to low risk classification for coronavirus disease (Covid-19), Octa Research fellow Dr. Guido David said on Thursday, March 3, 2022.
David said the four cities are now under low risk classification after they were classified as moderate risk on February 22, 2022.
Other highly urbanized cities (HUCs) in the region, including Butuan and Cotabato, maintained their low risk classification, while Cagayan de Oro remained under moderate risk with a still high positivity rate at 12 percent.
David said Davao’s average daily attack rate (Adar) went down from 2.86 on February 22 to 2.24 on March 2, but it is still under moderate risk, while its reproduction rate slightly declined to 0.27.
The healthcare utilization rate (HCUR) also slid down to 28 percent, while its positivity rate went down to five percent, the standard set by the World Health Organization.
A five percent positivity rate indicates the low transmissibility of coronavirus in an area.
Cotabato City’s HCUR and positivity rate are at low risk at 32 percent and four percent, respectively.
The positivity rates in General Santos City and Iligan City are also still at high risk at 15 and 18 percent, respectively.
Butuan has a seven percent positivity rate, while Zamboanga City has eight percent.
In Visayas, the cities of Cebu, Mandaue, Ormoc, Tacloban and Lapu-Lapu are under low risk, while Iloilo is still under moderate risk.
Of the HUCs in Visayas, Mandaue has the lowest positivity rate at one percent, followed by Tacloban at three percent, Bacolod at four percent and Cebu and Lapu-Lapu at five percent.
The positivity rate of Ormoc is at high risk at 17 percent.
In Iloilo, the Adar is at 7.85, HCUR at 54 percent and positivity rate at 10 percent. Its reproduction rate is at very low risk at 0.42.
Of the HUCs in Mindanao and Visayas, Bacolod, Zamboanga, Cagayan de Oro and Davao were deescalated to Alert Level 1, the lowest quarantine status in the country amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
The other HUCs have remained under Alert Level 2. (SunStar Philippines)
