Recent low COVID-19 numbers in Cebu City due to lab's closure

CEBU, Philippines —  After two months, Cebu City logged its lowest number of new COVID-19 cases on September 13, but the Emergency Operations Center said there is no cause for celebration.

This, as the dip in fresh cases is mainly attributed to the disinfection of the DOH-Cebu TB Reference Laboratory’s molecular facility, where most of the city’s swab tests are processed. The disinfection means that the facility’s operations have been limited the past three days.

As the facility will be back on its normal course today, EOC deputy chief implementer City Councilor Joel Garganera expects the figures to go up again.

According to the Department of Health-7 bulletin, Cebu City logged only 60 new cases on September 13, while according to EOC’s verification, the city logged only 58.

“For the record, yes, we have 58 cases for today pero ayaw sa mo kalipay kay three days gi-disinfect atong CTBRL Molecular Facility sa DOH, mao nga wala pa mogawas ang result sa atong mga close contacts sa mga households /community,” said Garganera.

Majority of the additional cases fall under the 21-40 age bracket (33 cases), followed by the 51-60 (8 cases), 61-70 and 71-80 groups (5 cases each), 41-50 (4 cases), two cases under the 10-under, and one for 81-90.

Garganera, though, has acknowledged that cases are, indeed, going low, that is why the molecular facility also grabbed it as a time to disinfect.

“They will disinfect when cases are low and it's the right opportunity for them to do so aron diretso-diretso na sa last quarter of this year,” said Garganera.

The EOC chief is asking consideration and understanding from those still waiting for their results to come out.

As of September 14, Cebu City has an active case count of 1,433, the lowest since July 18 of this year. These active cases cover 71 barangays, which means only nine barangays in the city have not recorded a recent transmission.

Seven additional deaths were noted on the same day, making the monthly total for the city 49 so far.

Meanwhile, DOH-7 data on September 13 showed that Lapu-Lapu had 42 new cases and 1,312 active cases, while Mandaue had 28 new cases and 1,067 active cases.

Lapu-Lapu also had four more deaths and Mandaue, one.

Cebu Province, for its part, also logged the lowest number of new cases this month on September 13, with only 79, for a total of 3,443 active cases. However, on the same day, 30 more deaths were reported.

Bohol had 3,563 active cases, plus six deaths; Negros had 1,250 active cases; and Siquijor had 73 active cases and one additional death. — JMD (FREEMAN)