Cebu City, Philippines—The Department of Health in Central Visayas (DOH-7) explained that the rising numbers of positive Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases in Cebu City is because mass testing is being implemented.
Dr. Jaime Bernadas, regional director of DOH-7, said that mass testing will also measure the effectiveness of the containment measures put in place by local government units (LGUs) within their territorial jurisdictions.
“How effective our containment measures will be done and how effective our testing coverage will be, will determine how the future of COVID will be for Cebu City,” Bernadas said.
He added that there will be a more aggressive approach in identifying areas with clusters of influenza like illnesses (ILI), aside from those that have already been currently identified.
“We will be able to catch early cases and isolate the patients accordingly,” he said.
Bernadas also said that testing in the affected sitios (sub-villages) within barangays (villages) in Cebu City identified as having confirmed COVID-19 cases is now made easier after the Cebu City Government has donated 30,000 test kits to the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC).
He also reiterated the importance of isolating patients who are confirmed as having contracted COVID 19, and to identify whom these patients have come into recent close contact with, to further stop the spread of infection.
Based on the latest data from Cebu City Health Department, Barangay Luz has been identified as the village having the most number of confirmed cases with 29.
New cases within Cebu City were recently confirmed in Barangays Labangon and Mambaling. /bmjo