58 barangays in Cebu City ‘COVID-free’

A shot of the Cebu City skyline. CDN Digital photo | Morexette Marie B. Erram

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The new coronavirus outbreak in Cebu City may seem to have improved as it enters the second week of December.

As of December 12, the Department of Health in Central Visayas (DOH-7) reported that only 171 active coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) remain in the city.

At the same time, the city’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC), the dedicated anti-COVID-19 body of the city government, reported 58 barangays that have zero active cases of the infection.

Active cases refer to patients still infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

“We have 58 barangays that have reported no transmission for the last 14 days,” said Councilor Joel Garganera, who heads the EOC.

However, the EOC requested not to disclose the names of the barangays as part of their protocols except for four, which are Barangays Buot, Taptap, Paril, and Sudlon I. These mountain villages have not recorded any transmission of the virus since the outbreak hit Cebu City.

Data from DOH-7 also showed that Cebu City was able to sustain its trend of reporting more recoveries than new cases in one week.

From December 6 to December 12, the regional health office logged a total of 35 new COVID-19 cases in the city and 57 recoveries.

There were two COVID-related mortalities also recorded within this period.

Cebu City, according to DOH-7, has already documented a total of 10,708 confirmed cases of COVID-19 of which 9,849 have already recovered while 688 were deaths.

The city, once tagged as the hotspot of the virus outbreak in Central Visayas, has been placed under modified general community quarantine (MGCQ) since September 1.

Its MGCQ status, the most relaxed form of community quarantine, is expected to last until December 31, 2020. /dbs