THE daily new cases of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in Cebu City have seen a decrease in the past four days.
But it is too early to tell if the numbers are showing any good sign, according to City Councilor Joel Garganera, the deputy chief implementer of the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) in Cebu City.
As of January 24, Cebu City had 302 new cases, bringing its active cases to 6,973 in 78 barangays.
"There’s nothing really to feel complacent nor happy about because if we look at the average daily attack rate (Adar), ideally, it should be between 1-7 per 100,000 population. And today, with 302 fresh cases, we have 30 cases per 100,000," Garganera said on Tuesday, January 25.
Adar refers to the average number of new cases within a certain period per 100,000 individuals.
Cebu City EOC reported 1,126 new cases and 5,608 active cases on January 20; 902 new cases and 6,292 active cases on January 21; 818 new cases and 6,859 active cases on January 22; and 573 new cases and 7,370 active cases on January 23.
Cebu City’s daily positivity rate (DPR) stood at 41.60 percent, from 726 individuals tested on January 24.
The city’s DPR on January 23 stood at 51.07, and it dropped by 9.47 percentage points to 41.60 on January 24.
"Positivity rate is at 41 percent today, but the WHO threshold is at five percent. So layo pa kaayo ta sa tinuod. Daghan pa kaayo ta og trabahoon (We are far from accomplishing anything. We have a lot of work to do)," Garganera said.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said positivity rate is one of the indicators that the epidemic is controlled by having a positivity rate of less than five percent for the last two weeks. The positivity rate, or percent positive, is the percentage of all coronavirus tests performed that come out positive.
Cebu City reported 442 recoveries on January 24, the first time this month that the recoveries outnumbered that of fresh cases, Garganera said.
The city also reported one new death on January 24, bringing the number of mortalities this month to 27. (KAL)