EOC’s report: 44 barangays in Cebu City now COVID-free

CEBU CITY, Philippines — More than half of the 80 barangays in Cebu City are now free of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

This was announced by the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) in its weekly COVID-19 report.

As of Saturday, October 17, a total of 44 barangays no longer cases of the infection.  These did not also have any newly reported transmissions in the last 14 days.

This means that only 36 of the 80 barangays are still under EOC monitoring because of the presence of active cases.

Meanwhile, Cebu City also logged four new cases and seven recoveries on Friday.  Since its recoveries exceeded the number of new cases, the city’s active cases dropped to only 218 of the 10,153 total number of confirmed cases.

The city’s recoveries are now at 9,271 or 91.31 percent of its confirmed cases.

“[It is the] highest recovery rate by far at 91.31%. [But] the more [that] we need [to] be more serious in our health protocols as we start to ease our age restrictions. Remember our enemy is ourselves,” said Councilor Joel Garaganera, the EOC deputy chief implementer.

To further intensify monitoring and surveillance on COVID-19 transmissions, the EOC has trained the Health Infection and Prevention Control Officer (HIPCO) of various government offices and private establishments so they could take charge of the implementation of health protocols in their respective offices.

Garganera said the HIPCOs play an important role because of the current shift of the transmission of the COVID-19 from the homes to the workplaces.

Outside transmission currently comprises 80 percent of the city’s active cases.

He expressed confidence that with the help of the HIPCOs, the spread of the infection in workplaces will already be reduced. / dcb