BAGUIO CITY – Despite being tagged as a “top high risk area”, Mayor Benjie Magalong maintained that the city has been able to keep its coronavirus disease (COVID-19) situation under control.
Magalong was reacting to a statement given by the University of the Philippines (UP) OCTA Research Team which named Baguio City as one of the top high risk areas in the county as far as COVID-19 infection is concerned.
Magalong said the research was based on the increased average of new cases recorded per day and the high critical care occupancy, which proved true for the city because it experienced a surge in the number of confirmed cases last month due to case outbreak among slaughterhouse workers and police trainees.
However, he said there was no cause for panic as the situation was contained, and all of the city’s control systems have remained strong.
“Are we panicking? No, we have nothing to worry about because we were able to control it. Because our control systems are in place, we have a high situational awareness and are managing the situation properly. We know where the cases are and where the outbreak is happening,” Magalong said.
He said the city continued to have a high testing capacity of 16 percent, which was achieved through sustained expanded or target testing.
“We have a total of 59,392 RT-PCR and 6,000 Antigen tests as against our population of 370,000. And of course the higher the number of tests, the more we are able to identify the cases,” he said.
The same can be said of the city’s contact tracing program, which, he said, continued to have a high efficiency ratio, enabling the city to locate other infected persons.
“We are looking for the cases. We are seeking them out through expanded testing and contact tracing so it follows that the number of cases will increase.”
Magalong said: “We are using data analytical tools to detect the cases. We are increasing our isolation facilities. We have a cooperative community and a very good team behind us. So over all, we have nothing to worry about. We remain on top of the situation.”