The Pasay City government has locked down 33 barangays and one business establishment as it recorded an average of 44 new COVID-19 infections per day this week, according to the OCTA Research Team’s latest report on Saturday.
In a statement on Saturday, the city’s public information office said it has placed select barangays and an establishment on lockdown as part of the local government’s “control and containment strategy” against the coronavirus disease 2019.
OCTA has noted Pasay’s rate is nearly double the daily increase of 23 COVID-19 cases the past week. Between January 30 and February 5, Pasay confirmed only around 18 infections daily.
City Administrator Dennis Acorda said Pasay Mayor Emi Calixto-Rubiano wants localized lockdowns for barangays with three or more COVID-19 cases.
Several personnel of the city government will augment the Philippine National Police and barangay to enforce health protocols.
Rubiano announced last February 9 that she herself tested positive for the virus and is now in isolation. With Joel E. Zurbano
Pasay has recorded a total of 7,461 infections overall. Some 6,990 have recovered while 191 died, leaving 280 active cases as of this week.
The daily attack rate, which refers to the number of people getting infected by the virus, rose to 7.58 per 100,000, putting Pasay in the “high-risk category” based on the Department of Health’s guidelines, the research group said.
Rubiano on Friday directed the police commander and barangay officials to ensure residents follow the guidelines set by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) as well as ordinances passed by the Pasay City council.
She also tapped members of the City Environment and Natural Resources Office, the Tricycle-Pedicab Franchising and Regulatory Office, Traffic and Parking Management Office, and public market officials to enforce IATF protocols.
The Business Permits and Licensing Office inspection teams will also check on establishments to see if they also comply with the health and safety guidelines.
“COVID-19 continues to infect many of our people. Please follow the health protocols as directed by the city government as well as the national government thru the IATF,” said Rubiano.
The city chief executive also reminded business establishments to ensure that their customers have face masks and ensure that one of their personnel are checking physical distancing while queuing.
The cities of Malabon and Navotas also saw a spike in coronavirus disease cases, OCTA said, while Manila and Marikina had slight increases.
“This increase may be due to the effects of Chinese New Year and/or Valentine’s Day. It cannot be ruled out that a SARS-Cov2 variant is involved in the sudden spikes,” its report read.
The country has detected 44 cases of the more transmissible variant first discovered in the United Kingdom. More samples of COVID-positive patients are undergoing genome sequencing to detect the presence of the new variant. With Joel E. Zurbano