Nine provinces in Mindanao have been identified as under “critical risk” classification, the Department of Health said Friday as the country logged 8,564 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total to 3,594,002.
The Department of Health said the provinces from the Davao region—Davao de Oro, Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur, Davao Oriental and Davao Occidental—and Soccksargen—South Cotabato,
Maguindanao, Sultan Kudarat, and Sarangani—were classified as critical risk.
The independent OCTA Research Group, on the other hand, said 13 provinces had registered positive one-week growth rates of new COVID-19 cases.
OCTA Fellow Guido David identified the provinces Bukidnon, Camiguin, Cotabato, Davao del Norte, Davao Occidental, Guimaras, Maguindanao, Sarangani, Siquijor, South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Tawi-Tawi, and Zamboanga del Norte.
“Very high growth rates were still observed in Davao Occidental and Camiguin. Cases are trending downward in the rest of the country,” said David.
He said Davao Occidental posted the highest positivity rate at 85 percent, followed by Camiguin at 78 percent, and Tawi-Tawi at 33 percent.
The Philippines overall is classified as having moderate risk for COVID-19 cases, according to Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire.
Metro Manila, Central Luzon, Calabarzon, Mimaropa, and Bangsomoro region are under moderate risk case classification, while Bicol region is considered as low risk for virus infection, Vergeire said.
Visayas and the rest of Mindanao are under high-risk case classification, she added.
The country had an average of 13,629 daily cases the previous week, 45 percent lower than the 24,151 infections tallied a week before, according to DOH data presented by Vergeire.
Only Metro Manila, Calabarzon, and Bicol regions have a negative 2-week growth rate, the DOH spokesperson said.
“Other regions have a positive 2-week growth rate, which means cases are still increasing. It might be positive but it’s low because the rise in infections is slowing down especially in the Visayas, while it is shifting in Mindanao,” she said.
David said the average daily attack rate was tagged as high risk in Bukidnon, Camiguin, Davao del Norte, Davao Occidental, Sarangani, and South Cotabato.
The ADAR in the remaining seven provinces was at moderate risk, according to OCTA Research’s data.
ADAR is the average number of new cases per day per 100,000 individuals.
Of the 8,564 reported cases on Friday, at least 6,560 (77 percent) occurred within the recent 14 days from January 22 to February 4, 2022.
The top regions with cases in the recent two weeks were National Capital Region (Metro Manila) with 907 or 14 percent, Region 6 (Western Visayas) with 782 or 12 percent, and Region 11 (Southern Mindanao) with 753 or 11 percent.
The DOH also reported 46 new fatalities, bringing the death toll to 54,214.
The DOH also reported 10,474 new recoveries, bringing the total recoveries to 3,388,399.
Active cases stood at 151,389 active cases, of which 6,522 are asymptomatic; 139,940 are mild; 3,107 are moderate; 1,500 are severe; and 320 are critical.
