Stricter border controls needed to avert COVID-19 spread –OCTA Research

Warning that a fresh surge of COVID-19 spread has started in the National Capital Region (NCR), the OCTA Research group has recommended “effective and stricter border controls" to mitigate the transmission of the infection “within and between provinces.”

“Together with more effective screening and other controls in our ports and airports, this will be crucial to supporting the government’s plans to expand domestic as well international travel in the country,” the independent team of experts said in its latest research-monitoring report of the health pandemic.

At the same time, the group proposed to local government units in the NCR to “monitor an enforce the current GCQ (general community quarantine) limit of 10 persons per gathering in the region and to discourage office parties and other social events, especially as we approach the Christmas season.”

“Family gatherings like bubbles should be limited to the immediate family and gatherings should also be limited in size. If larger gatherings have to happen, they should be celebrated outside (in open-air/well- ventilated venues) to mitigate transmissions,” it said.

It added that local government units should also issue clearer guidelines on activities for the holiday season in line with the directives of the Department of Health and the Inter-Agency Task Force.

OCTA said that based on available data, “the period of the declining trend in cases observed in the NCR in the past few months has now ended.”

“The trend has been reversed with significant positive growth in new cases observed in the region. While it can be argued that the numbers are still relatively small, the rise in the  reproduction number Rt as well as the rise in new cases in the NCR over the last week is the highest for the last two months,” it said.

“It is in this light that we believe, based on our analysis of the data and of the  past trends in the NCR that a surge in its early stages has already started in the region. This is a serious cause for concern,” it added.

The group urged that given the” real threat of a surge in the NCR,” local government units concerned should start preparing public health systems and personnel as well as increasing health care capacity to deal with the influx of cases in the next few weeks.

The group, however, noted that the surge is still in its “nascent stage” in the NCR, “and it can still be mitigated or even reversed. But to achieve this, we need to act now and act as one collectively.”

In its latest study, OCTA identified the NCR, Bulacan, Isabela, Leyte, Pangasinan, South Cotabato and Negros Oriental as “areas of concern,” due to the spike of cases.

Nationwide, it also observed that from December 13 to19, the number of new cases per day increased from 1367to 1484.

The number of coronavirus disease 2019 cases in the Philippines reached 461,505 on Monday after the Department of Health (DOH) reported 1,721 new infections. 

Davao City recorded the highest number of new cases at 151, followed by Quezon City with 142, Rizal with 85, Laguna with 81, and Manila with 77.

Recoveries now total 429,207 after 82 more patients recovered from the respiratory disease, while the death toll rose to 8,957 with 10 new fatalities.—LDF, GMA News