Cordillera posts over 2K active Covid cases

By Liza Agoot  

BAGUIO CITY – The Cordillera Administrative Region has recorded 2,011 active cases of Covid-19 last week.
    According to the Dept. of Health- Cordillera Administrative Region (DOH-CAR) Covid-19 tracker, Apayao Province topped the list with the most active cases at 587 placing it at critical risk.
    Baguio City with 576 and Benguet with 381 were in high-risk categories.
    The province of Kalinga has 196 active cases, Abra logged 156, Ifugao has 68, and Mountain Province with 47.
    The DOH data also showed that of the total active cases in the region, 938 are asymptomatic, 944 with mild symptoms, 101 moderate, 6 severe, 18 critical, and 4 for verification.
    For the past several weeks, Apayao has been recording high Covid-19 cases, especially with the continuous aggressive community testing (ACT) for 3,000 individuals followed up by an extensive contact tracing.
    Another round of ACT with 7,000 test kits is scheduled next week. Baguio also has started the three days ACT from August 19 to 21.
    In terms of Hospital Care Utilization Rate (HCUR), CAR is under moderate risk with an average utilization rate of 65.73 percent.
    Apayao’s bed utilization rate is 98.48 percent, Baguio is 82.92 percent, Benguet with 70.76 percent, Ifugao with 65.12 percent, Kalinga with 64.06 percent, Abra with 40.91 percent, and Mountain Province with 36.36 percent.
    In terms of mechanical ventilator utilization, Apayao is 100 percent; Baguio, 58.33 percent; Benguet, 45.45 percent; Abra, 100 percent; and Mountain Province, 36.36 percent.
    Ifugao province does not have a ventilator while Kalinga has one ventilator. The two provinces are adjacent to the provinces of Cagayan, Nueva Vizcaya and Isabela where tertiary hospitals can be found.
    Dr. Amelita Pangilinan, DOH-Cordillera assistant regional director and the agency’s spokesperson in the region, said HCUR only reflects the number of available and occupied beds for Covid-19 patients and not the full bed capacity of hospitals and infirmaries.
    She said under the Inter-Agency Taskforce guidelines, government hospitals must allocate at least 30 percent of their bed capacity while private health facilities must allocate at least 20 percent of their bed capacity for Covid-19 patients.

As of August 18, Cordillera has 43,905 patients who recovered from Covid-19 and 867 deaths. -- PNA