This Week in Southern Luzon (October 9 to 15, 2021)

Batangas and Cavite will remain under GCQ and MECQ, respectively, according to the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) in an announcement last September 30 [1]. Batangas is under GCQ with heightened restrictions until October 31, while Cavite will be under MECQ until October 15.

The MMDA is set to assist in speeding up the vaccination process in Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon province [2] according to Chairman Benjamin “Benhur” Abalos Jr. Since Metro Manila is expected to vaccinate about 84% of its population by November, the MMDA will lend human resources to CALABARZON to speed up the process of vaccination. No specific date has been indicated yet when this will start in CALABARZON.

According to the OCTA Research group, as of October 2, CALABARZON recorded a drop in COVID-19 cases. Despite the decrease in cases, Cavite, Laguna, Rizal, and Batangas are still considered high-risk areas because of the positivity rates or infection rates [3].

Cavite has a positivity rate of 21%; Rizal has 27%; Laguna has 32%; Batangas has 21%, and Quezon has 33%. All of which exceed the World Health Organization’s ideal positivity rate below 5%. Daily infection per 100,000 population is also used to classify high-risk areas. According to the data, all provinces in CALABARZON are at high risk except for Quezon City.

Cavite has a 16.91 daily infection rate; Rizal had an average of 18.65; Laguna had 17.16, and Batangas had 12.74.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHILVOCS) recorded the new all-time high sulfur dioxide (SO2) emission from the Taal Volcano last October 5. The newly recorded emission is 25,456 tons per day, which beats the previous record of 22, 628 last July 4. SO2 is a major component of magma, and a high number of it means that magma is near the surface of a volcano.

The Taal Volcano has been under Alert Level 2 since July 23, 2021, after being under Alert Level 3 for three weeks. Due to this, Taal Lake and Taal Volcano Island remain off-limits.

Visit Yoorekka Consumer Magazine for more travel and COVID-19 updates and guidelines in Southern Luzon!