Outgoing Taguig Mayor Lino Cayetano said he is supporting the decision of the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases to place the whole National Capital Region (NCR) under Alert Level 1 amid a slight increase in Covid-19 cases.
On June 14, the IATF signed Resolution 168-G placing the NCR and other cities and municipalities in other regions under Alert Level 1, the lowest alert level classification, from June 16 to 30.
“Bagamat may kaunting pagtaas ng mga kaso, sang-ayon tayo sa desisyon na Alert Level 1 pa rin po tayo. Yan ay dahil ang Covid ho noon at ang Covid ho ngayon ay iba sa pamamagitan o rason na tayo bilang indibidwal, bilang komunidad, bilang hong isang pamilya at isang siyudad ay marunong na dapat kung paano natin poprotektahan ang ating sarili (Despite the slight increase in cases, I agree with the decision for us to remain under Alert Level 1. That is because Covid before and Covid now are different through or by reason that we, as an individual, community, family and city, should be wise on how to protect ourselves),” said Cayetano in the Taguig Weekly Report video released on June 17.
He said the focus now of the Taguig City government is to ensure that the residents have access to jobs and livelihood.
“Napakarami hong nawala nung nag-lockdown ng dalawang taon na meron tayong pandemya (There were so many losses when we had lockdowns for two years that we had the pandemic),” he said.
Based on data from the Department of Health’s Covid-19 Tracker, Taguig added 17 new Covid-19 cases on June 17, bringing the total active cases to 99.
As of the date, Taguig has 83,916 cases, 83,276 recoveries and 541 deaths since 2020.
In a statement, the DOH said “NCR is still at low risk classification" as of June 16.
“For an area to be classified under moderate risk. it should have a positive two-week growth rate (TWGR) AND average daily attack rate (ADAR) of at least 6 average cases per day per 100K population. From the perspective of healthcare utilization rate (HCUR), there should also be moderate risk HCUR for escalation to Alert Level 2 to happen,” it said.
It added, “As of June 15,2022 while NCR shows positive TWGR, its ADAR is still below 6 at less than 1 case per 100k population. NCR would require at least 818 cases daily for two weeks to reach an ADAR of 6 cases per 100k population.”
“Furthermore, NCR's HCUR remains to be at low risk. At this stage of the pandemic, infections are expected. Most of them will be asymptomatic, mild. or moderate - thanks to vaccination, boosters, and health protocols,” it said.
According to the DOH, “What is important is the number of severe and critical hospital admissions. So long as these numbers remain low, we will stay at the current alert level while carefully monitoring the situation.”