(PNA photo by Avito C. Dalan)
MANILA – The OCTA Research Group on Thursday called on the national government and local government units (LGUs) to impose stricter quarantine status after it noted an uptick of Covid-19 infections in the National Capital Region (NCR).
Its latest monitoring report showed that the reproduction number in the NCR increased to 1.15 for the period of July 15 to 21. The figure is a 0.24 increase from 0.91 reproduction number the previous week.
For the same period, the average number of daily Covid-19 cases in the NCR increased by 27 percent to 813 cases from 638 cases the previous week.
The OCTA recommended proactive measures to mitigate the emerging increase -- stricter quarantine status, expanded testing, contact tracing, and regional and localized lockdowns.
In a message to reporters, OCTA fellow Ranjit Rye said the “uptick cannot be underestimated because of the reality that it may be driven by the Delta variant”.
“At the very least the IATF must contemplate a stricter quarantine status or impose more restrictions in the NCR. The current GCQ status without restrictions will not be enough,” Rye added.
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Citing that the "delay" in response in March resulted in lost lives and livelihood, Rye urged the LGUs to act now and “not wait for the numbers to explode”.
“If Delta is driving this surge, we need to crush it with lockdowns and T3 (Test, Trace, Treat) before it explodes and creates a catastrophic surge. We have a window of opportunity to reverse this surge,” he said.
As of July 21, the Department of Health reported that there are 12 new Delta variant cases detected and all are local ones.
Across the Asia Pacific region, including Southeast Asia, the highly infectious Delta variant first detected in India, is driving new outbreaks.
Last week, the World Health Organization warned that a rise in Delta variant cases was being noticed across all the regions.
It said the increased transmissibility associated with the Delta variant is likely to result in substantial increases in case incidence and greater pressure on healthcare systems. (PNA)
