Taguig City’s total number of new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases have increased by 39 percent amid the spread of the highly contagious Omicron variant in the National Capital Region (NCR).
The Taguig City government reported that for the period Jan. 21 to 27, the city’s new cases totaled 2,662, higher by 744 cases or 39 percent compared to 1,918 recorded from Jan. 14 to 20. It tallied 1,389 new cases from Jan. 7 to 13.
From Jan. 1 to 27, the city government has recorded 6,230 new COVID-19 cases, or 231 cases per day, as confirmed cases rose from 52,605 to 58,835.
As of Jan. 28, Taguig has 630 active COVID-19 cases including 519 new cases out of 59,354 confirmed cases, 58,283 recoveries and 441 deaths.
According to Dr. Guido David of OCTA Research, for Jan. 28, Taguig added 160 new cases to place fifth among the 17 local government units in NCR based on data from the Department of Health.
In the weekly report by the city government, Mayor Lino Cayetano hopes that the alert level status of NCR will be downgraded.
“Patuloy naman ho na ina-assess and inii-evaluate ng national government yung ating alert status. Hindi ho yan nagdedepende sa desisyon ng iba’t ibang LGU but the NCR is one region. (The national government continues to assess and evaluate our alert status. It does not depend on the decision of different LGUs but the NCR is one region),” said Cayetano.
He added, At umaasa ho tayo na dahil napakababa na ng ating mga numero o patuloy na bumababa at alam natin na patuloy may responsibilidad ang ating mga kababayan dito at patuloy na nagpapabakuna ay sa palagay natin na napapanahon na na muling luwagan ang ating alert level pero aantabayanan natin yung desisyon at yung pagbaba nung kautusan ng Inter-Agency Task Force (We are hoping that because our numbers are so low or continue to decrease, and we know that our countrymen know their responsibility and they continue to get vaccinated, I think it is about time that we again ease our alert level but we will wait for the decision and release of the order of the Inter-Agency Task Force).”
Health Usec. Maria Rosario Vergeire earlier revealed that the Omicron variant is now the predominant variant in the NCR and other places in the country comprising 98.9 percent of the samples taken for sequencing.
In a press briefing on Jan. 28, she said COVID-19 cases in the National Capital Region (NCR) and NCR Plus areas are decreasing.
The DOH, University of the Philippines-Philippine Genome Center and the UP National Institutes of Health reported on Jan. 27 that of the new 677 samples that were sequenced, 618 or 91.3 percent are Omicron variant cases while 35 or 5 percent are Delta variant cases.
To date, five individuals with Omicron variant cases have died and the total number of confirmed Omicron variant cases in the country has reached 1,153.