NCR, Central Visayas, Calabarzon top active Covid-19 cases list

MANILA – The National Capital Region (NCR), Region 7 (Central Visayas), and Region 4-A (Calabarzon) have reported the highest number of active cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).

In its Covid-19 situation report released on Monday evening, the Department of Health (DOH) said NCR has 14,699 active cases, followed by Central Visayas at 6,023, and Calabarzon at 3,690 — totaling to 24,412 out of 36,043 active Covid-19 cases in the country.

These three regions also reported the highest number of new cases — NCR with 1,540, Central Visayas with 495, and Calabarzon with 347.

Rate of spread

The DOH’s current measure of Covid-19’s ability to spread, or the Rt value, is at 1.23 ± 0.02 as of February 21.

“Based on the latest data, we are 95 percent confident that Rt = 1.23 ± 0.02, which means each infected individual was infecting an average of 1.23 other persons around two weeks ago,” the DOH said.

Lowering this value to less than one, it said, would mean that an infected person, on average, is infecting less than one person, and would eventually stop the transmission of the disease.

“Lowering this value is made possible through efforts such as social distancing, wearing of PPE (personal protective equipment), and other means to stop the spread of the virus,” the DOH said.

On Sunday, the DOH said a total of 26,354 Covid-19 tests were administered to 24,633 individuals, with 2,259 or 9.17 percent returning positive with the disease.

In total, it said 9,068,396 tests were administered to 8,542,733 persons, with 667,341 or 7.81 percent returning positive with Covid-19.

Crackdown on violators

Meanwhile, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) has ordered the police force to go after those ignoring minimum health protocols.

“So nag-utos po si DILG OIC (officer-in-charge Bernardo) Florece na tinatawag na crackdown sa mga nagva-violate ng ating mga minimum health standards at mga health protocols (On orders of DILG OIC Bernardo Florece, there is now a crackdown against those who violate minimum health standards and protocols),” he said in a Laging Handa briefing.

Malaya also urged local government units and their police forces to increase the number of police officers in populous areas in Metro Manila and other parts of the country as part of the efforts to stop the surge in Covid-19 cases.

He added that local ordinances related to Covid-19 protocols should be strictly enforced in line with this measure.

First time offenders will be given a warning while those on their second and third violations can be fined or imprisoned.