Cebu City on July 26, 2021 began its rollout of J&J COVID-19 vaccines for senior citizens at the NOAH complex. | CDN Digital file photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The chief implementer of the Cebu City Emergency Operations Center (EOC) is beginning to see a “slight improvement” in the city’s COVID-19 situation and expressed his hope that this positive development will continue in the coming days.
Councilor Joel Garganera said they have been seeing a downtrend in the number of active cases of the city since Friday, August 20, until this Tuesday, August 24, after spikes in the number of new cases in the past weeks.
“It’s [still] too early to tell, [but I] hope the trend will continue in that direction,” Garganera said.
As of Monday, August 23, Cebu City logged a total of 4,664 active cases of which 206 new cases were recorded on the same day.
The number of active cases reported on Monday was much lower compared to the number of daily cases that the city recorded since July.
On the other hand, the number of recoveries is also increasing at an average of 200 per day and even reaching a total of 434 on August 21, 2021.
However, the city’s hospital utilization rate is still high at 73.7 percent while the death toll for August reached 206.
Still, Garganera is hopeful that the drop in active cases will continue in the coming days and while the city remains under Modified General Community Quarantine (MGCQ) until the end of the month.
This despite the recent statement of Health Secretary Francisco Duque that the “prolonged lockdowns” did not result to improvements in the COVID-19 situation in Central Visayas and Northern Mindanao.
Garganera said the EOC is committed to continue to implement measures that will control, if not eliminate, the spread of the infection.
“Padayon lang gyud ta para ma kontrolar ang transmission sa communidad strict enforcement, paspas nga contact tracing ug swabbing, pagdungag ug mga medical frontliners sa hospitals ug TTMF, pahingusgan ang pamakuna ug strikto nga pagpatuman sa mga lagda sa Mayor’s EO,” he said.
(We will continue to control transmissions in our community [with] strict enforcement [of existing regulations], efficient contact tracing and swabbing, adding more medical frontliners in hospitals and at TTMF, continuous vaccination and the implementation of the Mayor’s EO.)
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