AFTER almost eight months of quarantine restrictions, nearly half of the towns in Cebu Province no longer have active cases of coronavirus infection, according to the Integrated Provincial Health Office (IPHO).
IPHO chief Christina Giango said active cases, or coronavirus-positive individuals who are still in isolation or in the hospital, have been declining.
Based on IPHO data, the number of active cases in the province has gone down by nearly 58 percent over almost two months, from 505 on Sept. 12, 2020 to 213 on Sunday, November 8.
The towns with zero active cases as of November 8 are Alcantara, Alcoy, Aloguinsan, Asturias, Badian, Barili, Borbon, Ginatilan, Malabuyoc, Moalboal, Oslob, Pilar, Poro, Ronda, Samboan, San Francisco, Santander, Sibonga, Sogod, Tabogon and Tabuelan.
These 21 towns had recorded a total of 489 cases, of which 461 are now listed as recoveries while 28 were deaths from coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).
The lowest number of cases were in San Francisco and Poro in the Camotes Islands, which had three infections each. All three patients in San Francisco have recovered while one died and two recovered in Poro.
The highest number of cases among these 21 towns was 122 in Sibonga. Of this number, 117 have recovered while five died.
Total cases
A total of 6,359 coronavirus infections have been confirmed in Cebu Province.
Of this, 5,750 have recovered and 396 had died, translating to a recovery rate of 90.4 percent and a case fatality rate of 6.2 percent.
There remained 213 active cases, including 187 in isolation and 26 in hospitals.
Of those who are hospitalized, one is in severe condition, eight are moderately ill and 17 have mild symptoms.
Among those in isolation are 104 who have not developed Covid-19 symptoms and 83 who are suffering from mild symptoms.
Six of Cebu’s 44 towns have more than 10 active cases each. These are Boljoon (21), Minglanilla (17), Compostela (12), and Argao, Bantayan and Madridejos with 11 each.
The towns with less than 10 active cases each were Liloan (8), San Fernando (8), Sta. Fe (8), Tuburan (8), Carmen (6), Consolacion (6), Daanbantayan (5), San Remigio (5), Balamban (4), Medellin (4), Catmon (3), Cordova (3), Dalaguete (3), Alegria (1), Pinamungajan (1) and Tudela (1).
Among Cebu’s six component cities, Danao has the highest at 18 active cases followed by Toledo with 12, Carcar with eight, Talisay and Naga with seven each, and Bogo with three.
Data discrepancy
Discrepancies in the data presented by the IPHO and the Department of Health Central Visayas (DOH 7) were noted.
According to the DOH 7, a total of 6,377 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Cebu Province. This is higher than the IPHO count by 18.
Of these 6,377 cases, 5,725 have been listed as recoveries, lower than the IPHO’s 5,750 recoveries.
Deaths reached 392 based on DOH data, lower than IPHO’s 396.
There were more active cases in the DOH list at 260 compared to the 213 in IPHO.
“We have been complaining about this. Their data include those that have not been validated. Our reports, on the other hand, have all been validated,” Giango said.
She said the IPHO normally waits until it has validated any report of new infection, recovery or death before including this in its tracker.
The decline in active cases was cited by Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia in her request to the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases to ease quarantine restrictions in Cebu Province.
The entire province is currently under modified general community quarantine (MGCQ), the least stringent form of community quarantine.
National
Nationwide, DOH reported more than 2,000 new cases of coronavirus infection on Monday, November 9, pushing the total count in the Philippines to nearly 400,000.
In its 4 p.m. bulletin Monday, DOH said the total number of cases increased to 398,449, including the 2,058 new infections.
The cases increased despite a decrease in tests by more than 30 percent to 15,263 on November 8 from 22,104 on November 7. There were 903 positive results, or a positivity rate of 5.9 percent.
There were 108 additional deaths, raising the Covid-19 death toll to 7,647. The case fatality rate went up to 1.92 percent.
The DOH also reported an additional 182 recoveries, bringing the total to 361,784 or 90.8 percent of the total cases.
Among the new cases were 103 from Rizal, 81 from Davao City, 81 from Maguindanao, 77 from Quezon City and 76 from Cavite.
New infections have increased by more than 2,000 a day for four days in a row, after DOH recorded 987 cases on November 4. It was the lowest and the first below-1,000 daily count since mid-July.
Health authorities earlier explained that it was because of the decrease in tests conducted as some laboratories were closed when Typhoon Rolly (Goni) ripped through Bicol region and other parts of Luzon on November 1.
Globally, more than 50 million people have been infected with Sars-CoV-2 and over 1.2 million had died as of November 9, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.
The Philippines has continued to go down in ranking in terms of number of cases, landing in the 25th spot on Sunday from 20th on October 2 and 22nd on October 30. (ANV / MVI)