A view of Cebu City’s skyline. | CDN file photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines – Cebu City recorded its lowest positivity rate so far for this year as it continues to enjoy a downtrend in the number of new COVID-19 cases.
The city’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC) reported on April 30 a positivity rate of 3.74 percent. This means that out of the 1,724 swab samples tested that day, only 56 were positive for SARS-CoV-2.
“We tested 1,497 [samples], and [had] a positivity rate of 3.74 percent, that’s relatively low and within the WHO [World Health Organization] threshold [which is 5 percent],” said Councilor Joel Garganera, the city’s EOC chief.
Garganera said this is the lowest positivity rate that Cebu City has registered this year.
Positivity rate is used to determine the speed of COVID-19 transmission in an area or locality. Higher percentages usually indicate that the infection is spreading rapidly.
Meanwhile, the same data from EOC also showed that the city, once tagged as the COVID-19 hotspot in Central Visayas, has sustained its downward trend in terms of new infections and mortalities related to it.
Cebu City logged a total of 1,724 new COVID-19 patients for the entire month of April, which is an approximately 58 percent lower compared to the 4,136 new cases recorded in March.
The city saw the highest number of new infections in February, after it recorded a total of 4,767 cases.
COVID-related casualties for the month of April stood at 29, less than half of the 64 registered in March.
“Of the 29 deaths, 65 percent [are] aged 60 years old and above,” added Garganera.
Cebu City will remain under modified general community quarantine (MGCQ) until May 14.
As of April 30, the number of active COVID-19 cases here is 850.
So far, the city has recorded a total of 23,354 confirmed cases of the infection of which 21,912 have already recovered while 850 were mortalities. /dcb
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