Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Junard “Ahong” Chan
LAPU-LAPU CITY, Philippines- The Lapu-Lapu City Health Department is expecting a spike of new Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases in the city.
Grace Carungay, head of the City Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit, said on Thursday, November 19, 2020, that the reason behind the expected rise in new cases is because the machines used by the Department of Health (DOH)’s Cebu TB Reference Laboratory (CTRL) molecular facility, are experiencing technical problems since Monday.
Aside from this, the City has also conducted ongoing mass swab testing to its top 11 barangays with the most number of COVID-19 infections.
On Monday, November 16, 2020, Carungay said that they were able to swab test around 81 individuals in barangay Mactan, 118 individuals in Barangay Babag on Tuesday, November 17, 2020, and 389 individuals in Barangay Basak on Wednesday, November 18, 2020.
“Ingon-ana gyud ang mahitabo kay nagtipun-og man siya, gikan paman adtong Monday, so expect ta nga motaas-taas gyud siya,” Carungay said.
Mayor Junard “Ahong” Chan, for his part, has reiterated his call to Oponganons to always follow health and safety protocols, such as the wearing of face masks and face shields, and the observance of social distancing.
He said that the COVID-19 is still present, and people should not be complacent in protecting themselves.
“Ang ato lang kay mao ni ang atong bantayan hilabi na nga sagad sa mga bag-ong kaso kay asymptomatic,” Chan said.
He added that asymptomatic COVID-19 patients might have already infected other people before they are diagnosed./rcg