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MASS TESTING Residents of Cebu City undergo mass testing, the result of which will determine whether they can move to community general quarantine before May 21. PHOTO OF THE PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE OF THE CITY OF CEBU
CITY OF CEBU: Cebuanos should not be alarmed by the increase in new cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Cebu, the highest outside Metro Manila, as the island has the lowest death rate from the disease in the country, according to a high official government.
“I can understand the fear of our kababayan (countrymen) in Cebu when you see a number like 1,385, 1,400 and then 1,500, etc. What we need to understand is this: The most important thing to consider now is how communities prepare to control the spread of the virus, “said Vivencio Dizon, deputy chief implementer of the government’s coronavirus response.
Until May 9, the Department of Health (DOH) reported that the city of Cebu had 1,469 COVID-19, cases surpassed only by the city of Quezon (1,523) and followed by Manila (833), the city of Parañaque (500 ) and the city of Makati (477).
But according to records, Cebu had a death rate of less than 1 percent compared to the four major cities in Metro Manila whose death rates ranged from 6 to 8 percent. Metro Manila is currently the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in the Philippines.
Cebu City had a mortality rate of 0.75 percent (11 deaths), while Makati had 6.29 percent (30 deaths); Quezon City, 7.94 percent (121 deaths); Parañaque, 7.8 percent (39 deaths); and Manila, 8.28 percent (69 deaths).
Community response
“So while those numbers are scary when you look at them, what we have to see is how the communities respond. And I think, for the entire country, we benefit greatly from the President’s immediate response to closing very early and stopping flights from China as early as February, “Dizon said.
The official visited Cebu at the invitation of the Presidential Assistant for Visayas Michael Dino, four days after the start of the massive strategic tests in the cities of Cebu, Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu.
Depending on the results of the massive tests, the three cities, where the majority of the island’s working population is located, may go from an improved community quarantine to a general community quarantine on May 21.
The strategic tests aim to cover 10 percent of the total number of households in each barangay of the three cities.
As of May 10, the island of Cebu had 1,610 cases of COVID-19 with 21 deaths.
Dizon believed that local officials and health authorities were doing a good job of keeping the death toll low. He noted that local hospitals serving patients with COVID-19 only operated 40 percent of their full capacity, as most of those infected showed no symptoms of the disease.
Aggressive TestingDizon, however, emphasized that Cebu should not let its guard down and continue “testing and testing more aggressively.”
He said the sub-national testing laboratory at the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) in Cebu City will soon be upgraded to allow the hospital to perform 3,000 to 3,500 tests per day from the current 200 to 500 tests.
At Eastern Visayas, all swab samples taken from suspected COVID-19 patients would be tested at Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center (EVRMC) in Tacloban City beginning May 11 instead of sending them to the VSMMC.
The EVMRC testing center would examine 90 swab samples on Monday, most of which were taken from individuals in the city of Tarangnan, Samar province, said Dr. Minerva Molon, DOH regional director.
Tarangnan is considered the epicenter of COVID-19 in eastern Visayas with 14 cases. The entire region has only 19 cases so far.DALE G. ISRAEL AND JOEY GABIETA INQ
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