Quezon City raises warning to yellow alert as COVID-19 cases climb

Quezon City over the weekend raised its COVID-19 warning to yellow alert status, following the increase of average daily cases being recorded in the area.

In an advisory, the local government said that the city has so far recorded a daily average of 26 cases in the past week.

The positivity rate has also doubled to 3.10% from 1.50% recorded in the week of May 27 to June 2. The forecast reproduction number has also jumped to 3.4% from 1.1% earlier.

Quezon City Epidemiology and Disease Surveillance Unit (QCESU) Chief Dr. Rolando Cruz warned of a possible spike in the next two weeks.

“Our local early warning system is helpful in assessing the pandemic within our city only. It aids our department as well as our city officials in the systematic monitoring of new cases, analysis of trends, and recommendation of strategic measures to prevent the further spread of infections,” he said.

The local government also stressed that Quezon City remains under Alert Level 1 status under the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases' alert level system. The city's yellow alert level is a call for heightened monitoring.

“We have come a long way but the virus is still with us. Again, we call on our residents to remain vigilant,” Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte said in the same statement.

Belmonte also called on the public to avail of vaccinations or booster shots by visiting their barangay health center or registering online with the city’s online portal.

Latest data available from the Department of Health (DOH) showed that the Philippines recorded 297 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday, June 11, 2022.

This brought the total caseload to 3,692,914 which includes 3.629 million recoveries, 60,461 deaths, and 2,805 active cases.

Quezon City recorded the biggest number of cases out of the provinces and cities in the country, recording 261 new cases in the past two weeks, bringing its total to 245,025. — Jon Viktor D. Cabuenas/BM, GMA News