Cebu City logs only 4 new COVID cases on Sept. 29

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Cebu City logged another record low in the number of active cases of the coronavirus disease that were reported on Tuesday, September 29.

Data coming from the city’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC) show that the city only logged four new cases of the infection that day.

Cebu City has been reporting single-digit counts of its active cases in the last five days, a good news that Councilor Joel Garganera, the EOC head, shared on his social media page.

“This is a ‘personal’ record for EOC. Of course, dili gihapon ta mag kompyansa— mag mask, hugas ug kamot, ug mag distansya (we cannot be complacent and continue to wear face masks, wash our hands, and observe social distancing),” Garganera said in a Facebook post this Wednesday morning, Sept. 30.

In his post, Garganera said that they recently tested 575 individuals, but only four of them had the infection as shown in the outcome of their test results that showed a 0.7 percent positivity rate.

Garganera attributed the drop in new cases to intensified surveillance, contact tracing, the immediate quarantine of suspected cases, and the isolation of confirmed positive cases.

Starting on Thursday, Oct. 1, the Cebu City government will initiate pooled testing among vendors at the Carbon Public Market, incoming Locally Stranded Individuals (LSIs), and Authorized Persons Outside of Resident (APOR).

Garganera said that the possibility of an increase in the city’s active case count is not remote as a result of the pooled testing but he is asking city residents not to be afraid.

While the conduct of massive testing is expected to detect more cases of the infection, this will eventually lead to a reduction in the city’s active cases, he said.

Garganera is asking the public to cooperate in the city’s effort to already curve the cases of infection here. / dcb