Muntinlupa City’s new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases totaled more than 11,000 in January due to the highly contagious Omicron variant that is spreading in the National Capital Region (NCR).
Data from the Muntinlupa City Health Office (CHO) showed that from Jan. 1 to 31, the city recorded 11,402 new COVID-19 cases as its confirmed cases rose from 27,742 to 39,144.
This is an increase of 11,285 cases, or 9,545 percent, from just 117 new cases recorded last month. In December, Muntinlupa’s new cases rose from 27,565 on Dec. 1 to 27,682 on Dec. 31.
In January, the number of patients who recovered from COVID-19 in Muntinlupa totaled 11,017, rising from 27,032 on Jan. 1 to 38,049 on Jan. 31. This is an increase of 10,942 recovered patients from just 75 in December.
The city government also tallied 20 deaths from COVID-19 in January from only one death in December.
As of Jan. 31, Muntinlupa’s active COVID-19 cases totaled 496, falling from 3,237 recorded a week ago on Jan. 25.
Muntinlupa's We Heal As One isolation and quarantine facility in Barangay Tunasan has only four patients, or 3.33 percent occupancy out of the 120 available beds.
Mayor Jaime Fresnedi reminded the public to strictly follow minimum public health standards including wearing of face masks, physical distancing and hand-washing, and urged them to get vaccinated.
The Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) downgraded NCR’s alert level to 2 that will be in effect from Feb. 1 to 15.
During the “Laging Handa” public briefing on Jan. 31, Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) said the department fully supports the move as the number of new cases in the NCR has decreased.
He said the averaged number of new cases in the NCR stood at 13,200 the other week and it decreased to 4,398.
“We think that it is time that (NCR) be placed under Alert Level 2,” said Malaya.
He added that with Alert Level 2 in the NCR, the “no vaccination, no ride” policy that has been implemented by local government units (LGUs) in Metro Manila will no longer be in effect as this is only applicable under at least Alert Level 3.
“Since we are under Alert Level 2 starting tomorrow , this can no longer be implemented,” he said.
Malaya said police checkpoints will still be in place in areas under Alert Level 3.