Quezon City has recorded 4 percent positivity rate in active cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
After weeks of continuous drop in active cases of COVID-19, the city’s positivity rate reached 4 percent, below the 5 percent positivity rate that the World Health Organization recommended as the threshold for re-opening the economy.
For the week of Nov. 5-11, OCTA Research group noted the 4 percent positivity rate from the 6 percent rate recorded in the past week from Oct. 29 to Nov. 4, according to the Quezon City Epidemiology and Surveillance Disease Unit data.
Based on the Department of Health case reports, an average of only 65 new cases per day were recorded from Nov. 10-16 compared to the previous week’s average of 91 new cases.
“Finally, after months of continuous fight against this pandemic, our numbers show great improvement. We are hopeful that this precedes our ultimate goal of being a COVID-free city,” Mayor Joy Belmonte said.
“We are proud of our partners in the QC local government and we congratulate them for their hard work has been paying off. With Mayor Joy and her team’s determination, they were able to greatly mitigate the spread of the disease,” Dr. Ranjit Rye of OCTA Research group said.
The OCTA Research team cited the city should sustain the same, if not lower productivity rate in one or two weeks before allowing further relaxation of quarantine protocols, echoing the recommendation made by the WHO.
“We are going by their recommendation as we need to be prudent in finding ways to help revitalize the economy,” Belmonte said.
As for the reproduction number, the city’s reproduction rate from Nov. 9-15 is at .67, much lower than the Philippines’ reproduction of .81, and National Capital Region’s reproduction number of .71.
Belmonte urged the residents to continue practising basic health protocols to ensure a safe Christmas season.
“We will not be lax in implementing basic health protocols, such as wearing face masks and face shields and social distancing. We want to ensure that while we are celebrating our holidays, there will be less or no further infection,” she vowed.
She appealed to officials of the city’s 142 barangays to constantly remind their constituents to wear masks and face shields, and practice physical distancing as she noted reports that residents in several villages are no longer observing minimum health standards.
Joseph Juico, Task Force on COVID-19 head, promised to reinforce the city government’s efforts to consistently maintain minimum health standards.
“We will intensify our campaign to remind our QCitizens on the importance of following the minimum health standards. The challenge now is to sustain the gains and protect families especially the elderly during the holidays,” he said.
