Quezon City will go ahead with its planned Delta Variant Task Force to prepare for a possible surge of Covid-19 cases due to the new strain, despite Covid-19 positivity rate which has declined to only 5%. .
The task force will review the city’s disease surveillance; active case data and contact tracing capabilities; testing capacity and the efficiency of its molecular laboratory in the processing of specimens; isolation and quarantine protocols and bed capacity of city facilities; and equipment and manpower resources of city-run hospitals in handling moderate to severe Covid-19 cases.
The QC action group, named ‘Task Force Disiplina’ was likewise ordered to ensure that minimum public health and safety protocols are properly implemented and followed in all public places.
On Wednesday, the OCTA Research Group said that based on the July 12 data by the Department of Health and the City Epidemiology and Disease Surveillance Unit, QC’s Covid-19 positivity rate was at 5%, the standard for the World Health Organization at which infections are less likely to occur.
The figure is lower than the entire NCR’s 6% which was also QC’s rate since June 22. “We don’t an alarming trend but a generally flat trend in NCR. Quezon City is, in fact, one of the LGU with incidence lower than 5 per day,” said OCTA Research Fellow Dr. Guido David,
OCTA also reported that the average number of cases per day in QC has decreased to 123 from 141 last week. The reproduction number is at .86, while the average daily attack rate per 100,000 is 3.91, also lower than the previous week.
“This is good news for us. We were at 5% a week before the surge happened last February and March. This means our cases and transmissions are well-monitored and controlled. We hope this positivity rate shall continue to dip in the coming weeks,” QC Mayor Joy Belmonte said in a statement.
As of Thursday, QC still has 1,330 active Covid-19 infections. Out its total of 104,097 confirmed cases, 101,569 have recovered while 1,198 died.
The city has already inoculated 1,072,230. Second doses are being administered while the city awaits more supply to resume first-dose vaccination. (PNA)