Cebu City logs record high positivity rate

CEBU, Philippines — New COVID-19 cases in Cebu City have continued to increase, with the positivity rate hitting 56.2 percent, the highest recorded in the area since the start of the pandemic.

Data from the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) showed that 92 were found infected of the 1,593 tested on Friday.

The city logged 6,292 active cases yesterday, also the highest daily tally.

The active cases were spread in 77 barangays.

More than 2,000 are under home quarantine, 187 in hospitals, 137 in barangay isolation centers, 360 in hotels, 290 in other isolation facilities, 955 have yet to be isolated and the rest are still being traced.

The EOC said four senior citizens and one unvaccinated were among the six deaths recorded.

Central Visayas was among the regions that recorded the most number of new cases in the past two weeks, according to data from the Department of Health (DOH)’s COVID-19 tracker.

In its case bulletin on Friday, the DOH said the region logged 13,383 active cases.

Cebu province was second to Cebu City with the most number of active cases at 3,191 followed by Lapu-Lapu City with 1,346 and Mandaue, 1,214.

Bohol logged 771 active cases; Negros Oriental, 739, and Siquijor, 13.

All provinces in Central Visayas are now under Alert Level 3 as the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases placed Siquijor on the list after Bohol, Cebu and Negros Oriental.

Mandaue mayor infected again

As this developed, Mayor Jomas Cortes of Mandaue City in Cebu tested positive for COVID-19 again.

Cortes announced in a post on Facebook on Friday that he would continue to monitor the city while he is in isolation.

The mayor first contracted the virus in April last year. He said he has been fully vaccinated.

DOH data showed that Mandaue recorded 246 new cases on Friday, bringing the active infections to 1,214. – Mitchelle Palaubsanon/The Freeman