Duque to present ‘downward trend’ of Cebu City cases to Duterte

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Close to a month since Cebu City was placed back to enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), the country’s top health official said they are set to present to the president the COVID-19 situation in the city, which now shows a “downward trend” on the number of cases.

Secretary Francisco Duque III, who spoke during President Duterte’s address aired at dawn on Wednesday, July 8, 2020, recounted the community quarantine status of the different areas in the country, including Cebu City, which is the only area under the highest quarantine control classification since June 16.

Duque reiterated that the city’s case doubling time and critical care utilization rate was among the factors that merited its quarantine status

However, Duque said that the recent measures that were put in place in Cebu, with Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu designated as the overseer of Cebu City’s response to the pandemic, have resulted in a downtrend in the number of cases here.

READ: Duterte orders Cimatu to oversee COVID-19 response in Cebu City

READ: Baguio City Mayor Magalong in Cebu City to share COVID-19 contact tracing expertise

These measures, Duque said, include strengthening the detection and isolation of cases, contact tracing, testing, and treatment.

“Ito po ay mariing sinusunod po ng leadership ng Cebu City kaya we will be reporting in the next meeting with you, Mr. President, showing a downward trend in the number of cases,” Cimatu said.

DOH-7 COVID-19 data

According to the data of the Department of Health in Central Visayas (DOH-7), the number of cases in Cebu City has reached 7,015 cases as of July 7, after it logged another 146 new cases.

Since July 1, the DOH-7’s records on the new COVID-19 cases in the city shows that the lowest increase in a day was 86 cases on July 2 while the highest was 171 on July 4.

• July 7: 146 new cases
• July 6: 113 new cases
• July 5: 141 new cases
• July 4: 171 new cases
• July 3: 168 new cases
• July 2: 86 new cases
• July 1: 151 new cases

As of July 7, the number of active cases in the city is at 3,852. Of the number, 1,711 are confined in hospitals.

PRRD: ‘Cebuanos were nonchalant’

Meanwhile, President Rodrigo Duterte, once again, took a swipe at Cebuanos for alleged “nonchalance” towards the health crisis.

“Ang nahalata ko kasi, ang Cebu, nonchalant sila during the critical days sa pagputok nito. People were partying, gambling outside their houses. Talisay, that’s in Cebu,” the President said.

He again referred to the Cebuanos as “gahi’g ulo” or stubborn because the latter supposedly did not pay attention to the earlier warnings of the government regarding the threats of COVID-19.

With the surge of COVID-19 cases (then 2019-NCoV) in January in China, the Cebu provincial government has instituted a 14-day mandatory quarantine for all persons arriving from the and its special administrative regions as a precaution against the spread of the virus.

READ: Gwen on n-CoV threat: Mandatory quarantine instead of stopping flights from China

As early January 28, Mayor Junard Chan of Lapu-Lapu City, where the Mactan Cebu International Airport is located, also called for the halt of direct flights from the neighboring cities of Wuhan, China to Cebu as part of the preventive measures against COVID-19. /bmjo