THE cities of Bacolod and Tacloban in the Visayas, and Baguio, Dagupan and Olongapo in Luzon are now classified as “very low risk” for coronavirus disease (Covid-19), the Octa Research group said Monday, March 7, 2022.Octa Research fellow Dr. Guido David said the status of the five highly urbanized cities (HUCs) was downgraded to “very low risk” as of March 6 from low risk on March 2.Bacolod’s average daily attack rate (Adar) was at .90, reproduction rate at .18 and positivity rate at two percent.Tacloban’s Adar is similar to Bacolod’s, while its reproduction rate is at .26 and positivity rate at three percent.The other HUCs in the Visayas — Cebu, Lapu-Lapu, Mandaue, Iloilo and Ormoc — have maintained their risk classification since March 2.Cebu, Lapu-Lapu, Mandaue and Ormoc remained under low risk, while Iloilo is still under moderate risk.The Adar in Cebu, Lapu-Lapu and Mandaue went down to 2.27, 2.75 and 2. 16, respectively.Cebu City’s reproduction rate slightly increased from .30 on March 2 to .31, while it maintained its positivity rate at five percent.Lapu-Lapu and Mandaue’s reproduction rate are at .33 and .37, respectively.Iloilo City has a 8.15 Adar, higher than the 7.85 on March 2, while its reproduction rate went down to .54 and positivity rate at eight percent.Among the HUCs in Visayas, only Ormoc is under high risk, based on its positivity rate, which is at 19 percent.The healthcare utilization rate (HCUR) of the HUCs in Visayas is at very low risk, except in Iloilo, which is at moderate risk of 54 percent.In Luzon, the cities of Baguio and Naga deescalated from moderate risk on February 22 to low risk as of March 6, while Lucena and Olongapo are now classified as very low risk.The National Capital Region and Santiago City remained under low risk, while Angeles is at very low risk and Puerto Princesa under moderate risk.The positivity rate in all the Luzon HUCs are from low to very low risk, except in Naga City, which is at high risk at 18 percent and Puerto Princesa at very high risk at 38 percent.The HCUR in these cities are all at very low risk.Earlier, the Department of Health said it will stop issuing daily Covid-19 case bulletin, as it will be done on a weekly basis with focus on severe and critical cases and intensive care unit utilization rate.David said this will affect the Octa’s monitoring of the pandemic situation in the country.“Sa amin, it will affect siyempre ‘yung monitoring natin kasi baka hindi na natin makita ‘yung ibang trends. We’re going to lose visibility. Sa ngayon, hindi naman malaking factor ‘yan as of now. Pero hindi natin masasabi kung magkaron ng panibagong variant, ‘wag naman sana, ay baka it will come at a time na wala tayong visibility,” he said in an interview.(It will affect our monitoring because we can no longer see the trends. We’re going to lose visibility. As of now, it’s not a big factor, but we could no longer say if there is another variant, because we no longer have visibility.)“Sa akin, wala namang masama na makita natin ‘yung mga datos. At least kung nakikita natin na mababa talaga ‘yung numbers, ‘yung mga kababayan natin will have more confidence to go out and enjoy this new normal,” he added.(For me, there’s nothing wrong with presenting the data. At least, if we see low numbers, then the people will have more confidence in going out and enjoying this new normal.) (SunStar Philippines)