Cebu City ends August 2021 with 266 COVID-19 deaths, ‘improving’ situation

By: Dyrecka Letigio - 3 years ago

A view of Cebu City from the mountains of Barangay Busay. CDN Digital photo | Brian J. Ochoa

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Cebu City ends August 2021 with 266 deaths, its second-highest number of deaths in a single month since the pandemic began in March 2020.

The highest death toll the city ever recorded in a month is still June 2020 when it recorded 367 deaths. Still, August remains to be the single month with the most number of COVID-19 death in 2021 alone.

Despite the deaths, the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) is optimistic that the COVID-19 situation is on a downtrend as the number of active cases is now at 4,354 based on Department of Health (DOH) data.

“Going down, knock on wood nga magpadayon na gyud ni siya ug ubos, our daily positivity rate also decreased. It’s too early to tell but we’re happy here at EOC,” said Councilor Joel Garganera.

The city’s hospital care utilization rate is at 69 percent on August 31, 2021, and has been hovering between 68 to 75 percent in the past two weeks.

The deaths are still being recorded per day, but it has slowed down to an average of less than 10 per day.

More deaths in the mountain barangays have been recorded in August than in any other month since the start of the pandemic, but the EOC responded by opening more cluster clinics including in Barangay Pit-os for faster detection.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recently announced that the Delta Variant of the COVID-19 is now the prevailing variant in the country.

Yet the EOC is not worried as Garganera said they have been treating every case as if it is the Delta Variant.

The EOC urged the public to continue observing health protocols and remain vigilant when working and traveling outside.

The EOC hopes that Cebu City may be lifted out of the Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine (MECQ) soon. /rcg