AFTER having been declared coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19)-free for 14 days, four barangays in Cebu City have reported new cases.
These are the mountain barangays of Kalunasan, Cambinocot and Budlaan and the urban barangay of Calamba.
City Councilor Joel Garganera, Emergency Operations Center (EOC) deputy chief implementer, said the number of Covid-19-free barangays in the city is down to 33.
On Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2020, the city logged 37 new cases from the 632 individuals who took the swab test, based on the data released by the EOC.
The city had a 16.48 percent positivity rate.
As of Wednesday, 59,307 individuals have undergone the real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test.
Based on the Department of Health (DOH) 7 data, Cebu City has 9,819 confirmed Covid-19 cases of which 8,816 have recovered and 662 have died.
The city’s active cases stand at 341 and scattered in 47 barangays.
Garganera said Barangay Apas has the most number of cases at 37.
He said the Armed Forces of the Philippines Central Command (Centcom) in the barangay is on lockdown after 15 of its personnel tested positive for Covid-19.
He assured that Centcom was able to contain the spread of the disease inside the headquarters.
Meanwhile, Garganera also said 12 locally stranded individuals (LSIs) from other regions tested positive when they arrived in Cebu City.
A total of 5,378 inbound LSIs have arrived in Cebu City ports since Aug. 2.
Garganera said only around 1,000 are residents of the city. The rest are from Cebu Province, he said.
The growing number of inbound LSIs has prompted the EOC to swab all LSIs arriving in the ports. Before, only LSIs from Manila needed to undergo a swab test. However, the spike in Covid-19 cases in neighboring regions has forced the City to implement stricter protocol.
Garganera said the mandatory testing of all arriving LSIs will start in the fourth week of September.
After the LSIs undergo a swab test, they will be brought to their destinations where they will be closely monitored by their respective barangays, he said.
Regardless of the RT-PCR test results, the LSIs need to complete the 14-day quarantine, he said.
Mayor Edgardo Labella, in a separate interview, said residents in some areas have become complacent since the city was placed on modified general community quarantine on Sept. 1. However, majority of residents continue to follow health protocols, he said.
The mayor said he already asked the Cebu City Police Office to deploy police personnel to the concerned areas. (JJL)