Cebu City virus count drops

MANILA, Philippines — The number of coronavirus disease 2019 cases in Cebu City, which had been described as a COVID-19 hotspot, has continued to decline.

Records from the Department of Health (DOH)-Central Visayas office showed that Cebu City recorded only 11 cases, with one fatality on Monday.

The total number of cases in the city is 9,523, with 624 deaths. There are 51 additional recoveries, bringing the total to 7,683.

Four barangays have remained COVID-free, according to Councilor Joel Garganera, deputy chief implementer of Inter-Agency Task Force Emergency Operations Center in the city.

Garganera said these are Barangays Taptap, Paril, Sudlon 1 and Buot.

He said 35 other barangays are now COVID-free. He did not identify these barangays saying he would not want residents to be complacent.

Cebu City is under general community quarantine until the end of the month.

The DOH-Central Visayas office said the number of confirmed cases in other areas in Cebu province have also dropped.

Mandaue City recorded three cases on Monday, bringing the total to 2,172.

Lapu-Lapu City recorded only one new case. The total number of cases in the city is 2,149. At least 314 are active cases.

In Cebu province, three new cases were reported, bringing the total to 2,473.

As of Monday, Central Visayas logged 18,370. At least 2,729 are active cases while 14,569 have recovered and 1,072 died.

Granular lockdown

Meanwhile, in Rizal, several communities in Baras town were placed on granular lockdown until Sept. 7 after barangay officials recorded a clustering of cases.

These are Katipunan street and portions of Trabajo and Cervantes streets in Barangay San Jose.

“After we have transferred all confirmed COVID-19 cases to our isolation facility and after we have swabbed their close contacts, we will be conducting random mass testing,” barangay officials said in a statement.

Baras has 15 active cases, one death and 40 recoveries as of Monday.

In Quirino, a 37-year-old woman with travel history to Cavite and Manila, who arrived in Barangay Pinaripad in Aglipay on Aug. 20, is the third case in the province.

Quirino recorded its first case only on Aug. 10. – Neil Jayson Servallos, Mary Ruth Malinao/The Freeman