Batangas, Laguna, Quezon now at 'moderate risk' for COVID-19 —OCTA

The provinces of Batangas, Laguna and Quezon have joined the list of Luzon areas now classified as "moderate risk" for COVID-19, OCTA Research said Tuesday, citing indicators.

The National Capital Region, Cavite and Rizal have earlier dropped to moderate risk classification, according to the independent research group.

"NCR, Batangas, Cavite, Laguna, Quezon and Rizal at moderate risk as of Jan 31, with new cases trending downward," OCTA fellow Dr. Guido David said on Twitter.

"The goal in the NCR is for positivity rate to decrease to less than 10% within two weeks."

As of January 31, NCR's positivity rate is at 17%.

Among the Calabarzon provinces, Cavite has the highest positivity rate at 31%, followed by Quezon at 25%, and Laguna at 21%. Rizal, meanwhile, has the lowest at 8%.

As for reproduction rate, the NCR has 0.45, while Quezon has the highest among Calabarzon provinces with 0.90 and Rizal the lowest at 0.46.

Reproduction rate refers to the number of people infected by one case. A reproduction number that is below 1 indicates that the transmission of the virus is slowing down.

OCTA said NCR has a -62% growth rate as of January 31. Batangas has -48%, Cavite has -66%, Laguna has -62%, Quezon has -37% and Rizal -65%. 

As for healthcare utilization rate (HCUR), Quezon has the highest among Calabarzon areas with 47%, followed by Batangas with 45%, and Laguna with 40%. —KBK, GMA News