Cebu City police stations log zero COVID-19 cases

CEBU, Philippines —  Police stations in Cebu City have reported no infections among persons deprived of liberty (PDLs), Emergency Operations Center’s data showed.

EOC deputy chief implementer and City Councilor Joel Garganera said there are no more COVID-19 cases inside police detention cells.

Last month, 274 PDLs were swabbed and none of them tested positive for COVID-19.

“For the month of May, 274 PDLs were swabbed and zero positive. This is good news, that’s why we don’t hear any more COVID cases with our police stations,” he said.

Garganera said this is the third time that city police stations reported no cases.

The first time was in September last year and then in January this year.

He said February got the highest number of infected PDLs.

“The month with the highest number of violators relative to the total number of swabbed was February 2021, with 13 out of 137 found COVID positive, and a positivity rate of 9.49 percent, which was reflective of the second surge of COVID-19 in the city,” he said.

Since then, Garganera said, the cases reported among the PDLs have been decreasing.

In March, out of the 156 tested, 11 were found positive. In April, three of the 138 swabbed tested positive for the virus.

“Overall, the total number of those found COVID-19 positive from September 1, 2020, to May 30, 2021, is 44 out of 1358 swabbed ( PDLs), with a positivity rate of 3.24 percent which is seemingly low, but surely will cause an outbreak if they had not been tested, extracted and isolated,” said Garganera.

He attributed the development to the regular conduct of a nasopharyngeal/oropharyngeal RT-PCR testing on PDLs prior to their integration into the city’s detainment facilities.

“It is an effective way to prevent a possible COVID-19 outbreak in jail facilities,” he said.

Active Cases

On the other hand, Cebu City’s total active cases have also gone below the 400 mark with 396 active cases.

The active cases include the 28 new cases on June 3. But the city reported 45 additional recoveries.

The positivity rate is also low at only 2.91 percent out of the 962 tested. No deaths were reported so far this month.

But based on the Department of Health-VII’s case bulletin on June 3, Cebu City has total active cases of 528, including 32 fresh cases.

Lapu-Lapu City’s cases were down to 159, while Mandaue City got 157.

Cebu Province has 442 active cases with some of its recoveries still up for validation.

In other parts of Central Visayas, Negros Oriental’s cases continue to go up after having 120 additional cases, bringing to 1,820 active cases.

 Bohol has 1,148 and Siquijor with six. — KQD (FREEMAN)