Rapid rise in new COVID-19 cases seen in Laoag, Mariveles, Lapu-Lapu —OCTA

Mariveles and the cities of Laoag and Lapu-Lapu recorded "rapid increase" in the number of new COVID-19 cases from July 11 to 17, the OCTA Research group said Sunday.

In its monitoring report dated July 18, OCTA said the number of COVID-19 cases in Mariveles, Bataan rose to 66 from 21 cases, with infection rate at 1.83. The city also reported a 47.08 incidence rate.

OCTA Research also considered Mariveles as "very high risk" for COVID-19.

On Saturday, OCTA cited Mariveles, Lapu-Lapu and Cebu cities as areas with the highest COVID-19 infection rate.

According to OCTA Research, incidence rate refers to the number of new daily cases per 100,000 population while infection rate is the rate of infection given by reproduction number.

In Laoag City, Ilocos Norte, new COVID-19 cases soared to 46 from 25, with an infection rate of 2.07. It also registered an incidence rate of  40.03.

Lapu-Lapu City's new cases climbed to 50 from 31, with an infection rate of 1.63. Its incidence rate, meanwhile, reached 11.16.

High risk cities

Aside from Lapu Lapu and Laoag cities, other high risk areas are Davao City, Iloilo City, Bacolod, General Santos and Baguio.

Davao City registered 225 new COVID-19 cases, lower than the 235 new cases recorded in the last two weeks. The city also reported an incidence rate of 12.38.

Iloilo City's new cases decreased from 112 to 88, with an incidence rate of 18.57.

Bacolod's additional cases declined from 99 to 87, but the incidence rate  remained high with 14.92.

General Santos City's new cases fell from 67 to 61, with an incidence rate of 9.43.

Baguio City's new infections rose from 54 to 59, with an incidence rate of 15.95.

As for case fatality rate, General Santos City topped the highest rate with 2.92% followed by Davao City with 2.79%.

Following Davao City is General Santos City with 2.62%, Lapu-Lapu City with 2.39% and Baguio City with 2.05%.

The number of COVID-19 cases in the Philippines rose to 1,502,359 on Saturday after the Department of Health (DOH) reported 6,040 new infections.

Of this number, 1,428,504 recovered while 26,598 died. —KG, GMA News