DOH says 11 regions at high risk classification for COVID-19
Eleven regions in the country are currently considered as being at "high" risk for COVID-19, the Department of Health (DOH) said Monday, September 6.
The DOH said these are the National Capital Region (NCR), Calabarzon, Cagayan Valley, and Cordillera Administrative Region, Central Luzon, Northern Mindanao, Ilocos Region, Davao Region, Caraga, Western Visayas, and Soccsksargen.
"We would like to flag NCR, 4A, 2, CAR, 3, 10 1, 11, Caraga, 6 and 12 with high risk case classification based on its moderate risk two week growth rate and high risk average daily attack rate," Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in an online press briefing.
She said although national and some regions show a slowing down in the increase in cases, the national case classification and health systems capacity remain at "high risk."
Meanwhile, Vergeire said all areas in NCR are under Alert Level 4, except Manila.
The DOH earlier said Alert Level 4 means their risk classification for COVID-19 is “moderate to critical” while their healthcare utilization rate is over 70 percent.
"All areas except the City of Manila are classified as Alert Level 4. The Delta variant had been detected across all areas in the NCR," Vergeire said.
She said all of the areas in NCR have positive two week growth rate, high risk average daily attack rate (ADAR), and high risk case classification.
In NCR,Vergeire said, the seven day moving average shows "continues increase in trend" as cases in the recent seven days have exceeded the previous seven days by 574 cases.
"So we now have an average daily reported case of 4,974 in the NCR," she said.
Under Alert Level 4 in NCR are Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas, Pateros, Marikina, Taguig, Quezon City, Makati, Mandaluyong, San Juan, Muntinlupa, Las Piñas, Pasay, Parañaque, Pasig and Valenzuela.
The City of Manila is under Alert Level 3.
"Majority or 95 percent of provinces, highly urbanized cities (HUCs), and independent component cities (ICCs) remain flagged under Alert Level 3 and 4," Vergeire said.
"More than half of the regions still with high-risk health capacity and majority (82%) of areas have high-risk health capacity," she added.
The Health official said cases may still continue to increase in the next weeks due to higher transmissibility of the Delta variant.