Region 7 breaches 10K mark in COVID-19 cases

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Central Visayas has breached the 10,000-mark in the total number of confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases, data from health officials show.

The Department of Health here (DOH – 7) reported on Sunday evening, July 5, that they had recorded a total of 10,273 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the region.

This after 279 of the 1,553 of the samples they tested on Sunday came out positive for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

The additional cases came from the cities of Mandaue, Lapu-Lapu and Cebu; the provinces of Cebu and Bohol except for the provinces of Siquijor and Negros Oriental.

Central Visayas is made up of the provinces of Cebu, Bohol, Siquijor, Negros Oriental, and three highly urbanized cities — Mandaue, Lapu-Lapu and Cebu.

In their latest COVID-19 case bulletin, DOH-7 also recorded 3,527 recoveries and 366 deaths related to the coronavirus as of 5 p.m. on Sunday.

Majority of the documented COVID-19 cases in Central Visayas still came from Cebu City, which is tagged as the epicenter of the outbreak in the region.

Based on DOH-7’s data, the city, the only area in the country that remained under the strictest form of community quarantine, has recorded 6,761 COVID-19 cases.

Cebu City also has the highest number of COVID-19-related deaths and recoveries in the region, with 225 and 2,840 respectively.

Cebu province came next with 1,538 cases. Of this number, 292 are recoveries and 91 are mortalities.

According to DOH-7, Mandaue City also breached the 1,000-mark in its total number of confirmed cases with 1,039. Its recovered patients stood at 243 and deaths at 21.

Only Siquijor remained the island-province in Central Visayas with no recorded COVID-19 cases.

Active Cases

DOH-7’s data also showed that out of the more than 10,000 COVID-19 cases in the region, more than half were still considered as ‘active’ or patients who were not cleared yet of the infection.

There are 6,380 active COVID-19 cases in Central Visayas, and majority are still from Cebu City. Of this number, 3,760 are placed under home isolation while 2,620 under hospital care.

DOH-7 has reiterated to the public their reminders to continue observing health protocols such as wearing face masks, keep physical distancing, and proper handwashing.

Except for Cebu City, the entire region has already downgraded to a more relaxed general community quarantine. /dbs