Davao City Hall (File photo)
MANILA – Davao City is not an "epicenter" of Covid-19 cases despite a surge of infections in the area, a health official said Wednesday.
In a message to reporters, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the term "epicenter", in relation to epidemics, refers to an area as the source of the infection and to connote the area as a hotspot for the infection.
"We discourage the use of the term ‘epicenter’ in describing the rise of cases in an area. These areas are not the origin of the Covid-19 virus," Vergeire said. "Moreover, using the term 'epicenter' detracts from other surrounding areas which may be equally or more affected by Covid-19. Considering this, no, Davao City is not an epicenter."
In its monitoring report Monday, the OCTA Research Group said Davao City is projected to surpass Quezon City with the highest number of new cases.
The group said Davao City is one of the Mindanao cities considered as an area of concern with 206 new cases for the period of May 31 to June 6, 2021. Its growth rate is 54 percent while its average daily attack rate is 11.34.
Vergeire said the Department of Health continues to closely monitor the situation in the southern city due to the increasing number of Covid-19 cases.
"Select NCR areas, as well as Davao City, were among our flagged areas because these had High Risk case metrics (TWGR or ADAR) and high to critical risk health care and ICU utilization rates. We do not compare counts alone as they are all of equal importance based on these metrics," she said. (PNA)
