Navotas records 76% drop in new cases

MANILA, Philippines — Mayor Toby Tiangco lauded the city government’s efforts in curbing the spread of COVID-19, as the city recorded the largest percentage decrease in new cases.

Tiangco cited data from the OCTA Research Group’s May 2 monitoring report that Navotas saw a 76 percent decrease in new cases, at 33 new cases from a peak daily case number of 137.

Tiangco cited the OCTA group’s calculations on percentage decrease based on the most recent seven-day average of April 25 to May 1 compared with the peak seven-day average.

The same report, however, stated that the highest drop from the peak number of cases “does not necessarily mean that these local government units had the best pandemic response.”

This is because “the peak in new cases in other (local government units or LGUs) may not have been as high,” the report read.

Tiangco attributed this “milestone” to the work of frontliners as well as the city government’s contact tracing, testing, isolation and treatment efforts.

He also attributed this to the city’s quarantine band system for isolated residents, as well as its mandatory swab test “punishment” for quarantine violators.

“Fewer Navoteños have contracted COVID-19 since we implemented the quarantine-band system and penalized health protocol violations with RT-PCR swab test,” Tiangco said.

“This goes to show that adherence to safety protocols plays a crucial part in bringing down the number of our COVID cases. We should continue to be careful and vigilant so all of our sacrifices will not go to waste,” he added.

Navotas also registered the lowest average daily attack rate of 12.36 per 100,000 population, OCTA said, although the group still classifies an ADAR of 10 per 100,000 population as high.

Navotas had 1,456 active cases on April 5, the highest for the year. The city tallied 428 active cases, 331 deaths and 9,752 recoveries as of May 2.