THE Department of Health (DOH) 7 recorded 196 new coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) cases in Cebu City on Saturday, July 17, 2021.

Cebu City Councilor Joel Garganera, deputy chief implementer of the Emergency Operations Center (EOC), said this is the highest recorded number of Covid-19 cases in the city since April.

Based on the DOH 7 data, Cebu City now has 1,389 active cases

Garganera said the EOC has yet to determine who these 196 individuals are. As of press time, contact tracing was still ongoing.

He said the EOC will come up with comprehensive report by Sunday night, July 18.

At the start of this year, Cebu City experienced a rise in coronavirus cases.

Garganera said the city was logging cases in double digits up until March. The number of cases began to drop around April, he said.

He pointed out that the critical care utilization rate (CCUR) in all the 14 hospitals in the city, which have allocated a total of 922 beds for Covid-19 patients, is 47.6 percent, which is within the 60 percent “safe level.”

The CCUR “refers to the number of intensive care units, isolation beds and ventilators in use in different health and medical facilities” for Covid-19 patients.

Garganera said that since the coronavirus pandemic struck the city last year, the EOC acknowledged that “the situation can change in an instant.” (JJL)