Downward trend in cases in Cebu City in start of March

CEBU, Philippines —  The OCTA Research Group has noted a downward trend in the number of new COVID-19 cases in Cebu City almost a month since the city recorded its highest number of new cases since the start of 2021.

Cebu City was tagged as area of concern owing to a resurgence of cases since January – up to 263 cases on February 24 alone.

Based on Department of Health (DOH)-7 data, the city has 3,565 active cases as of March 7.

But OCTA has noticed a reverse in the trend in the first week of March. As of Saturday, March 6, the highest number of new cases in a day dropped to 172.

The city logged 160 new cases on March 1; 151 cases on March 2; 159 cases on March 3; 143 cases on March 4; 172 cases on March 5; and 161 cases on March 6.

“The number of new COVID-19 cases in Cebu City dropped for the first time, indicating that the pandemic has reversed its trend in the area,” OCTA said.

Based on its weekly monitoring, OCTA also noted that Cebu City’s critical care utilization rate or hospital occupancy has remained on a safe level at 48 percent occupancy. It’s daily attack rate is at 19.96 percent and positivity rate is at 17 percent in the last week.

Mandaue, Lapu-Lapu

But OCTA is also seeing slight increases in the number of new cases in Mandaue City and Lapu-Lapu City in recent weeks. Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu are classified as high-urbanized cities.

Lapu-Lapu has had an average of 34-58-63 new cases per day while Mandaue has had an average of 34-51-54 new cases per day.

Based on DOH-7 data, Lapu-Lapu has 958 active cases while Mandaue has 982 active cases.

In OCTA’s weekly monitoring, Lapu-Lapu’s hospital occupancy is at 80 percent, which is beyond the 60 percent safe zone, while Mandaue’s is at 59 percent.

Appeal

OCTA urged high-risk local government units, including Cebu City, Lapu Lapu, and Mandaue, to intensify ongoing efforts on testing, tracing, and isolation. It suggested small, targeted lockdowns to contain “super spreader events” and reverse the increasing trend in transmissions.

With quarantine regulations easing up as LGUs work to resuscitate the economy, OCTA also urged residents to do their share in stopping the transmission.

“In this light, we appeal to our citizens to continue to do their share by being vigilant and by being disciplined in following the minimum health standards set by the DOH, such as staying at home, wearing of mask/face shields, and practicing social distancing and proper hygiene when citizens absolutely need to go out,” the group said.

Aside from avoiding crowded and enclosed areas, it also urged people to refrain from joining or organizing social gatherings during this period of surge.

“We also exhort the national and local governments to strictly monitor and enforce compliance with minimum health standards, such as physical distancing, wearing of face mask and face shields and proper hygiene, and to discourage large gatherings to reverse the increase in transmissions at the community level,” OCTA said. — JMO (FREEMAN)