In Cebu City for 14 days: No transmission in 35 barangays

CEBU, Philippines —  Almost half of the 80 barangays in Cebu City have not had transmission of the coronavirus in the last 14 days, daily monitoring of the city’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC) showed.

This is in stark contrast to the situation in previous months when 76 barangays recorded cases.

With 35 barangays having “zeroed-in” transmission, Councilor Joel Garganera, deputy chief implementer of the EOC, said only 45 barangays have active infection as of weekend.

Even with the positive development, Garganera said the city will not disclose what the 35 barangays are so that residents will not be complacent.

A check on the tracker of the Department of Health (DOH)-7 showed there are at least nine barangays in the city with 10 or more active cases.

Barangay Apas has the most number of active cases at 52, including five new as of September 12. Of this number, 17 are admitted in hospitals while the rest are in isolation.

Barangay Guadalupe, on the other hand, has 36 active cases, Talamban has 29, Bacayan has 23, Tisa has 24, Mabolo has 15, Basak Pardo and Labangon has 11 each, and Bulacao has 10.

The other barangays have one more two active cases with most patients in isolation.

The four mountain barangays that have not recorded cases since the outbreak have kept their record clean. These are Barangays Malubog,Sudlon 1, Buot and Paril.

The EOC reported that the city has done 57,192 tests, by far, or a positivity rate of 16.99 percent.

As for September 12, up to 595 residents were tested with 25 found to be positive of COVID-19.

Based on DOH-7 data, Cebu City has 392 active cases, Mandaue has 248, and Lapu-Lapu City has 190.  Cebu Province has 590 active cases.

Negros Oriental, for its part, has 28 active cases, Bohol has 107.

Siquijor is COVID-free anew after its four patients recovered from the disease.

Don’t celebrate prematurely

As it begins to recover from the crisis and reopens its economy, Mayor Edgardo Labella told the public not to celebrate prematurely.

“But even if the numbers are good, it is not the time to be complacent and to prematurely celebrate. We still have a lot to do. We have started with the more challenging task of rebuilding our economy while COVID-19 is still around,” Labella said.

He thanked residents for their cooperation and called for continued support as the city rebuilds and continues to protect itself.

“Thank you to everyone for all your contribution to the effort to protect our community,” Labella said in a Facebook post.

“Let us continue working together and praying for each other,” he said. — JMO (FREEMAN)