CENTRAL Visayas, particularly Cebu City which was once tagged as the epicenter of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) in the country, cannot afford to have another surge in cases.
So it is important for everyone not to be complacent and to enforce strict workplace standards, according to Dr. Bryan Albert Lim, an infectious disease specialist in Cebu.
Lim said the public should only patronize establishments that implement strict minimum health protocol and report violators.
Citing the situation in some countries in Europe, which are experiencing a fresh spike in the number of Covid-19 cases after thinking they had tamed the novel coronavirus, Lim said the moment the public lets its guard down, a resurgence of the outbreak can occur.
“Strategy is still trace, test, isolate, treat. We all need to work together. The real fight starts now. We need to follow our prevention strategies to maintain our low numbers. We can’t afford another surge,” he said.
Flattened curve
Although he has yet to review the data of the other provinces in Central Visayas, he said he supports the Department of Health (DOH) 7’s claim that active cases in Cebu City has dropped compared to the months of May to August.
Dr. Jaime Bernadas, DOH 7 director, earlier said the daily tally of new cases has been decreasing from the end of July until the second week of October and the epidemic curve for the region has flattened since September.
Lim said overall hospital admissions for Covid-19 patients have also gone down.
“Strictly when we say that the curve has flattened, an epidemiologic surveillance should be done. But that would be quite expensive, so the number of positive cases would suffice,” he said.
103 new cases
Despite these positive developments, he said the region is still seeing cases from time to time, which tells everyone that the coronavirus is still here.
Wednesday, Oct. 14, was the second day since the region’s total remaining active cases fell below the 1,000 mark.
However, from only 10 new cases of infection recorded in the region on Tuesday, Oct. 13, the DOH 7 on Wednesday recorded 103 new cases, bringing the total number of active cases to 982.
Of the new Covid-19 cases, 14 are from Cebu City, seven from Lapu Lapu City, two from Mandaue City, 55 from Cebu Province, 13 from Bohol and 12 from Negros Oriental.
The DOH 7 also reported 48 additional recoveries on Wednesday, bringing the total number of recoveries to 19,335.
Only two additional deaths were reported. These came from Mandaue City and Cebu Province. The Covid-19 death toll in the region stands at 1,302. (WBS)