Cebu City’s active cases slightly increase to 392

Downtown Cebu City on August 30, 2020, two days before Malacañang announced the downgrade of the city’s status to general community quarantine (GCQ). | CDN File Photo

CEBU CITY, Philippines – The number of active coronavirus disease cases in Cebu City slightly increased during its second week under modified general community quarantine (MGCQ).

In its September 12 bulletin, the Department of Health in Central Visayas (DOH -7) recorded 392 active cases of the infection here or 37 more than the 355 active cases reported a week ago.

DOH said that from September 6 to 12, Cebu City logged a total of 144 new cases of COVID-19. A total of 79 also recovered from their infection during the same period.  But the number of recoveries was already lower compared to recoveries that were logged in the past weeks.

During its first week under MGCQ or from August 30 to September 5, the city logged 86 new cases and 344 recoveries, which resulted in a massive reduction in its active cases.

But the number of recoveries dropped during the second week of the MGCQ while its active cases increased.

The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Disease (IATF-MEID) placed Cebu City under MGCQ starting on Sept. 1 and after weeks of reporting a drop in its active cases of the infection.

The city’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC) earlier said that a slight rise in new infections is to be expected under the MGCQ since more establishments will already be allowed to reopen while movement restrictions have been reduced.

READ: EOC: Slight rise in cases is expected under MGCQ

Local officials said this slight increase in cases should serve as a reminder for Cebu City residents to continue to observe health protocols under the MGCQ.

Wearing facemasks and face shields, social distancing, and proper disinfection can greatly help prevent the spread of the virus. / dcb