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CEBU CITY, Philippines – The number of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases in Central Visayas increased from three to 346 within a month and a few days.
In a tally made by Cebu Daily News, the growth rate in the region reached up to 114.3 percent, from March 18, 2020, to April 22, 2020.
The spike in the total confirmed cases were noted to begin between April 14, 2020, and April 15, 2020, when massive COVID-19 testing in Cebu City began.
As of April 22, 2020, Cebu City has 311 patients infected with the coronavirus. These figures account for 89.9 percent of Central Visayas’ total count.
Meanwhile, Lapu-Lapu City with 18, Mandaue City with nine, Negros Oriental with four, and Cebu province with three which are recorded in Cordova, Consolacion, and Talisay City.
Cebu province is also eyeing to do ‘targeted massive testing.’
On April 14, 2020, the Department of Health in the region (DOH – 7) recorded a cumulative total of 45 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the region.
The figures, however, climbed four times to 180 on April 17, 2020, or three days later, bulk of which are recorded in Cebu City where community transmission in a densely populated, urban poor area in Barangay Luz has been confirmed.
On the other hand, the growth rate of COVID-19 mortalities remained steady as the number of recoveries has continually overtaken it since the first week of April.
Surge in cases
There are over 3,400 samples from Central Visayas that were examined at the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC), the subnational level laboratory here qualified to carry out COVID-19 tests.
This means that around nine percent of these specimens yielded positive of the virus.
In earlier press conferences, DOH – 7 said a surge in COVID-19 cases is expected as soon as Cebu City began its massive testing.
Presently, Central Visayas has 10 COVID-19 related deaths and 24 recoveries.
In a separate model created by the University of the Philippines (UP), it was projected that the region could suffer from ‘mild shortage’ in hospital beds if the COVID-19 crisis in the country peaks, and will result in no less than 2,000 individuals needing hospitalization.
Central Visayas has around 5,300 Level 2 and 3 hospital and Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds both from private and public medical facilities. /bmjo