The number of Taguig City’s active coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases has reached more than 1,000 as the Department of Health (DOH) declared that there is already community transmission of the Omicron variant in the National Capital Region (NCR).
Based on the latest tally by the Taguig City government released on Jan. 16, the city has 1,050 active COVID-19, an increase of 201 cases or 24 percent from 849 active cases recorded on Jan. 14.
A total of 245 new cases were added to the tally to bring Taguig’s confirmed cases to 54,779. There are 53,288 persons who have recovered from COVID-19 and 441 who died.
Among the 28 barangays in Taguig, Ususan has the highest number of active cases with 100 followed by Pinagsama, 91; Lower Bicutan, 83; Western Bicutan, 71; Fort Bonifacio, 62; Calzada, 61; Central Bicutan, 50; South Daang Hari, 44; North Signal, 39; and Central Signal and South Signal, 36 each.
From Jan. 9 to 15, Taguig recorded 1,478 new COVID-19 cases, or a daily average of 211 cases.
During the “Laging Handa” public briefing on Jan. 15, Health Usec. Maria Rosario Vergeire declared that there is already community transmission of the Omicron variant in the NCR.
"First of all, here in the National Capital Region, we are seeing community transmission here in the NCR of the Omicron variant,” she said.
Vergeire added that while the whole genome sequencing, used to determine the virus variant, has not caught up, “we have already determined that there are local cases already.”
She said based on the characteristics of cases like fast transmission and steep rise in the number of cases, there are already Omicron variant cases.
Time will come, she said, that Omicron will be the dominant variant in the Philippines if the trend in the fast transmission of the virus continues.
Vergeire said the NCR averages 17,124 new cases per day compared to 6,500 new cases per day one week ago. She said the NCR now has 149,000 active cases.
Based on the projections of experts, Vergeire said, the number of cases will continue to rise and “we are not seeing the peak of the cases yet.” She said the peak in the number of cases may reach by the end of the month or in the second week of February.