Police Colonel Josefino Ligan, chief of Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) together with Police Major Juanito Alaras of Mabolo Police station, conduct a foot patrol inside Sitio Zapatera, Barrio Luz, which was placed under a lockdown on Sunday, April 12, 2020 due to the two positive cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the area| Photo courtesy of CCPO
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Cebu City’s cases of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is set to increase in the next few days as mass testing continues, a health official warned.
City Health Officer Daisy Villa stated this as the city recorded 22 new cases in the city after just one day bringing the overall total of cases to 53 since March 2020.
Villa said this is just the beginning of the rise of COVID-19 cases in the city. The mass testing continues with over 300 swabs already taken from Sitio Zapatera in Barrio Luz.
The City Health Department (CHD) has also begun the testing in Sitio Sto. Niño in Barangay Labangon where another case was also recorded.
The challenge here, says Villa, is that most cases are asymptomatic. This means that because they showed no symptoms, they may have been complacent from the day they were infected.
The contact tracing of these asymptomatic cases is exponential and that’s why more swabs are being taken from Sitio Zapatera as the days go on.
The trend goes as follows: out of 18 samples, seven were positive in the first run of the testing while out of 100 samples, 21 came back positive.
The city is now waiting for the results of 200 samples from Sitio Zapatera.
Villa said that this shows how quickly the virus can spread and how easy it can move from one host to the next.
“Mosaka pa gyod ni. Wala pa ta kaabot sa peak. (The cases will rise. We have not yet reached the peak),” said Villa.
With this, Villa said as mass testing continues, it is empirical that the public stay at home and reduce the chances of contact.
The asymptomatic patients, who have no chance of knowing if they have the virus or not, maybe roaming around if they have not been tested yet.
The people within the nearest vicinity of identified positive cases should remain at home lest they may be asymptomatic of the virus.
“We should not hastily lift the enhanced community quarantine at this case. The barangays should be swift on lockdown when cases are found” said Villa. /rcg