By Froilan Gallardo
Special Correspondent

THE Octa Research group has some welcome news for residents here who have been reeling from a surge of Covid-19 cases and deaths for the past two months starting in July this year.

The UP research group in its August 25 monitoring report said it had detected a decrease in the reproduction of Covid-19 infections from 1.38 percent to 1.15 percent in the past seven days.

“If the trends continue, Cagayan de Oro should see the start to see a decrease in new Covid-19 cases in one or two weeks,” the independent research group said.

Data showed that Cagayan de Oro had a seven-day average of 182 new Covid-19 cases from August 18 to August 24, Octa explained, however, it also pushed the average daily attack to a high level.

Octa said this caused the hospital bed and ICU occupancy to remain at the critical level.

The Octa report was well received by Mayor Oscar Moreno and health officials here who have been trying to grapple with triple-digit coronavirus infections in the past two months.

At some point last July, Moreno said Covid-19 infections rose as much as 300 daily cases that many patients with serious conditions have to wait for days to get rooms in JR Borja General Hospital, Northern Mindanao Medical Center, and private hospitals here.

Moreno also said local hotels and pension houses rented by the local government “were filled to the brim” with asymptomatic Covid-19 patients.

“I hope the Octa research is true because our city has suffered long enough,” Moreno said when apprised of the Octa briefer.

Moreno attributed their initial success to strict contact tracing; immediate isolation of the Covid-19 cases and vaccination against the Delta variant believed to be responsible for the surge here.

He said extracting and isolating primary and secondary contacts have proven effective rather than implementing granular lockdowns.

“ECQ (does) not stop the virus. Extracting and isolating the patients stops the spread,” Moreno said.

Dr. Ted Yu of the City Health Office said they have isolated at least 39 “high-risk” residents found to be positive of the Delta variant.

Cagayan de Oro has 31 recorded cases of the Delta variant making the city the number one in Mindanao.

Yu said 271, 545 residents have been vaccinated — 186,857 are first dozers while 84,400 are fully inoculated.