Active cases in entire Cebu spike to 12,619

CEBU, Philippines —  After 15 days of more stringent quarantine classification to stem a rise in infections, active cases in the whole of Cebu, including Cebu City, Lapu-Lapu City, and Mandaue City instead zoomed to 12,619, latest data from the Department of Health-7 showed.

Cebu City, whose cases appear to have plateaued, continues to log 300-plus daily cases. Its active cases have jumped to 3,777 based on the Emergency Operation Center’s own data while DOH-7 record on August 15 showed 4,090 active cases.

Lapu-Lapu, on the other hand, is at 1,736 active cases while Mandaue City is at 1,753.

Cebu province, for its part, has already breached the 5,000-mark after logging 5,040 active cases.

Cebu province’s daily cases in August have not also lowered to 200 except on August 9.

When all deaths in Cebu are considered, the number has already reached a staggering 506 in the first 15 days of August alone.

Cebu province had the most number of deaths in the first half of this month at 312.

Cebu City’s total deaths this month are at 122 as per EOC data, though DOH-7 has recorded 112.

Lapu-Lapu’s deaths have reached 51 and Mandaue, 31.

Hospitals all over Cebu are also collectively at high risk to critical level.

Lapu-Lapu’s critical care utilization rate remains high at 98.5% with all of its three hospitals at a critical level.

Cebu City, on the other hand, is at 75.6% with five hospitals at a critical level, four at high risk, and three at moderate risk level.

Mandaue City, which was at moderate risk last week, is now at 71.4% occupancy with one hospital at a critical level and another one at high risk.

Cebu province, per DOH COVID-19 tracker, has a 75.9% CCUR, with seven hospitals in different LGUs critical. — JMD (FREEMAN)