CENTRAL Visayas logged 827 additional coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) recoveries on Friday, Aug. 7, 2020, bringing the total number of recoveries in the region to 11,446.
The Department of Health (DOH) 7 also recorded 137 new cases, bringing the total number of active cases in the region to 4,676, as of Friday.
Of the number, 1,825 were recorded in Cebu City, 926 in Mandaue City, 706 in Lapu-Lapu City, 105 in Talisay City, 105 also in Minglanilla, 173 in Consolacion, 757 in the rest of Cebu Province, 34 in Negros Oriental, 44 in Bohol, and one in Siquijor.
Siquijor has two cases, but the DOH 7 counted only one case since the other case was counted in Navotas, Metro Manila where the patient’s swab test result was released.
Of the active cases in Cebu City, 1,257 are in isolation while 568 are admitted in hospitals. In Mandaue City, 668 are in isolation and 258 are admitted. In Lapu-Lapu City, 500 are in isolation and 206 are admitted. In Cebu Province, 542 are in isolation and 215 are admitted.
Of the 34 active cases in Negros Oriental, 32 are in isolation while two are admitted. In Bohol, 38 are isolated and six are admitted, while in Siquijor, the lone recorded case is confined in the hospital.
The DOH 7 also recorded 45 additional deaths: 40 were from Cebu City, three from Cebu Province and two from Mandaue City.
The high number was not due to an overnight spike in deaths but to more accurate data collection and validating efforts, it said.
Meanwhile, Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes said the presence of Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) Cebu Overseer Secretary Roy Cimatu in Cebu helped improve the city’s Covid-19 patient recovery, which has surpassed the number of active cases.
He said Cimatu taught them the things they needed to do and what not to do in response to the Covid-19 situation.
As of Friday, Mandaue City had 1,161 recoveries compared to 684 active cases, based on figures released by the City Health Office.
Cortes credited the teams the City established in its fight to contain the spread of the pandemic for the positive development.
The mayor was referring to members of contact tracing teams, diagnostic and testing teams, patient management and monitoring teams, logistics teams and management of the dead teams.
He said the City has given its all-out support to the teams so these could be more effective.
He said they had established rapport with barangays as they are at ground zero.
On Monday, Aug. 3, Mandaue City opened the Contact Tracing Operations Center at the Mandaue City Public Library. Fifteen police officers from the Mandaue City Police Office have been deployed at the center, which operates 24/7.
The City also hired 30 contact tracers to add to the 500 already deployed in the barangays, but it needs to hire 120 more.
On Tuesday, Aug. 4, Cimatu, during a meeting with Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia and local chief executives, reminded local government units in the province to strictly implement health guidelines even though the number of new Covid-19 cases in Cebu has fallen.
He said he doesn’t want what happened in Metro Manila to happen in Cebu.
The number of Covid-19 cases in the National Capital Region recently spiked weeks after it was placed on general community quarantine (GCQ) that eased several quarantine restrictions. It was reverted to the stricter modified enhanced community quarantine status on Aug. 4.
Cebu Province is on modified GCQ, while the cities of Cebu, Mandaue, Lapu-Lapu, Talisay and the towns of Consolacion and Minglanilla are on GCQ.
The governor pointed out that although Cebu Province has a high number of Covid-19 cases, the number of active cases is small compared to the province’s population of around 3.2 million.
She also pointed out that there’s plenty of room for Covid-19 patients in provincial hospitals, which have a current occupancy rate of 24 percent. (WBS, KFD, ANV / PJB)