CASES of coronavirus infection in the country are on a downtrend, but 17 areas are still considered high-risk because of increasing daily attack rates or having more than 100 new cases per day, according to the latest report of Octa Research.

Octa Research, an independent and interdisciplinary group of academics from the University of the Philippines and the University of Santo Tomas, identified the high-risk areas as follows:

• National Capital Region, the epicenter of the coronavirus epidemic in the country
• Benguet (including Baguio City)
• Nueva Ecija
• Quezon
• Pangasinan (including Dagupan)
• Davao del Sur (including Davao City)
• Iloilo (including Iloilo City)
• Misamis Oriental (including Cagayan de Oro City)
• South Cotabato (including General Santos City)
• Surigao del Sur
• Western Samar
• Zamboanga del Sur (including Zamboanga City)
• Batangas
• Laguna
• Cavite
• Negros Occidental (including Bacolod City)
• Rizal