ASIDE from a more contagious Sars-CoV-2 variant possibly driving transmission in Cebu City and Cebu Province, the Department of Health (DOH) on Monday, July 12, 2021, reminded that multiple factors usually cause an increase in infections.
DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said these factors include mobility, border controls and compliance to public health protocols, especially in workplaces and establishments.
She said they have verified the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) data in Central Visayas and confirmed that specific areas, like Cebu City and Cebu Province, are seeing an increase in cases.
“We are reporting that in our situationer report. Nakita po natin na unti-unti po na pagtaas, nawala na ang pagbaba at plateauing of cases dito sa mga lugar na ‘to,” Vergeire said in a press briefing Monday.
“We still need to further verify so that we can have one message for these rising cases in Central Visayas,” she added.
Vergeire also said coronavirus-positive samples from Central Visayas are regularly included among the samples that are subjected to whole genome sequencing.
The detection of the Sars-CoV-2 variant P.3 or Theta in Central Visayas early this year coincided with a spike in Covid-19 cases in the region, DOH Epidemiology Bureau Director Alethea de Guzman noted earlier.
Theta was initially included among the variants of interest by the World Health Organization, but was downgraded to the list of variants with “alerts for further monitoring.”
A variant under this category is defined by the WHO as one with “genetic changes that are suspected to affect virus characteristics with some indication that it may pose a future risk, but evidence of phenotypic or epidemiological impact is currently unclear, requiring enhanced monitoring and repeat assessment pending new evidence.”
Based on the DOH 7 case bulletins, Covid-19 cases in Cebu City averaged nearly 86 per day in the last seven days from July 5 to 11, a 22 percent increase from the seven-day average of almost 70 in the previous week from June 28 to July 4.
New cases in the last 14 days from June 28 to July 11 reached 1,089, an increase of nearly 42 percent compared to the 767 cases in the previous two weeks from June 14 to 27.
The number of active cases in Cebu City crossed 1,000 again on July 9, on the same day that daily cases reverted to a three-digit level.
In Cebu Province, cases averaged 66 a day in the last seven days to July 11, almost 40 percent higher than the 47 daily average in the previous seven days from June 28 to July 4.
New infections reached 798 in the last two weeks from June 28 to July 11 or an average of 57 per day, higher by 61 percent than the 495 cases in the previous two weeks or an average of 35 per day from June 14 to 27.
As of July 11, there were 861 active cases in Cebu Province.
Cases in Lapu-Lapu City are also increasing, with the daily average reaching 34 in the week from July 5 to 11. This was almost 40 percent higher than the average of 24 a day from June 28 to July 4.
Negros Oriental, on the other hand, saw its new cases peak at 343 in one day on June 11. Its daily average peaked at 209 in the week from June 6 to 12, and has been on the decline since then.
Cases in Negros Oriental are now down to an average of 69 in the last seven days compared to nearly 84 in the previous week and around 143 on June 21 to 27.
In Bohol, new Covid-19 cases are fluctuating. In the last seven days to July 11, cases averaged 106 a day, around 80 percent higher than the 59 daily average in the previous week, but 13 percent lower than the 122 daily average on June 21 to 27.
Negros Oriental and Bohol were driving the sustained increase in Covid-19 cases in Central Visayas in May and June. (Marites Villamor-Ilano / SunStar Philippines)