NINE of every 100 coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) cases in Central Visayas involve children 17 years old and under, data from the Department of Health (DOH) 7 showed.
Since the start of the pandemic, a total of 8,770 minors have contracted the disease. They constitute 9.0 percent of the 97,048 total cases in the region as of Tuesday, Aug. 10.
Majority of the cases, or 6,887 (78 percent), were recorded only since January 2021. About half of the total, or 4,491, are male.
Cebu City has the highest cases at 2,768, followed by Cebu Province with 1,441, Bohol with 1,386, Negros Oriental with 1,267, Lapu-Lapu City with 1,159 cases, Mandaue City with 710 and Siquijor with 39.
There are still 1,555 active cases involving children, consisting of 437 from Cebu City, 317 from Lapu-Lapu City, 291 from Cebu Province, 231 from Bohol, 169 from Mandaue City, 102 from Negros Oriental and eight from Siquijor.
The DOH 7 recorded 894 new Covid-19 cases, across all age groups, in the region Tuesday. There were also 40 additional deaths and 467 new recoveries.
The new infections were reported in Cebu City at 331, Cebu Province (280), Lapu-Lapu City (145), Mandaue City (99) and Negros Oriental (39).
Total active cases in the region increased to 14,610. Cebu Province has the highest at 4,487, followed by Cebu City with 3,813, Bohol with 2,105, Lapu-Lapu City with 1,823, Mandaue City with 1,519, Negros Oriental with 835 and Siquijor with 28.
Cebu City
A total of 160 individuals died from Covid-19 in Cebu City from July 1 to Aug. 10. Of this number, 87 died in July while 73 died in the first 10 days of August. Only four were fully vaccinated. The rest did not receive a single dose.
Cebu City Councilor Joel Garganera, Emergency Operations Center (EOC) deputy chief implementer, said the two fully vaccinated mortalities in July were both senior citizens with underlying conditions while the other two mortalities, who died in August, both had poor health condition.
In June, all the 14 patients who died were unvaccinated.
Based on EOC data as of Aug. 10, Cebu City has 32,634 Covid-19 cases, with 28,099 recoveries, 1,038 deaths and 3,502 active cases. The case fatality rate is 3.18 percent.
Those queuing for hospital admission are still not confirmed Covid-19 cases and are, thus, not yet included in the tally.
Garganera said seven of the 15 hospitals in Cebu City are considered to be in critical level. Overall occupancy rate increased to 71 percent as 684 out of 961 Covid-19 beds were occupied.
Among the 80 barangays in Cebu City, only seven have had no Covid-19 transmission for the past 10 days.
Barangays with the highest active cases are Guadalupe (205 cases), Talamban (173), Tisa (152), Lahug (120) and Camputhaw (114).
Mandaue City
As reports surfaced about clusters of Covid-19 cases in shelters, Mandaue City EOC deputy chief implementer Julius Ceasar Entise said they will investigate the Hope of Mandaue (Home) Children’s Center.
There were 31 minors in Homecare Center for Children in Lapu-Lapu City and 27 minors in Cebu City’s shelters who tested positive for Covid-19.
Entise, who also heads the contact tracing team, said they will test the children who manifest symptoms. He said the cluster of cases was expected as children usually gather to play.
“The good thing about it is we do not have fatality as far as children are concerned, but they do get infected,” Entise said.
“The bad thing about it is when children get infected, they are likely to transmit Covid-19 to their elders,” he added.
Less than 10 percent of the 1,519 active Covid-19 cases in Mandaue are children.
Police
Police Brig. Gen. Ronnie Montejo, director of Police Regional Office (PRO) 7, said 65 personnel tested positive on Aug. 10. Most are at the Philippine National Police (PNP) Training Center in Consolacion.Most are asymptomatic.
Montejo said all have been placed under isolation for 15 days inside the training center and are still undergoing training.
There are 105 active cases at the PRO 7. All are being monitored by the Regional Health Service 7. Some have been vaccinated, according to Montejo.
He said he aims to have all 12,000 PRO 7 personnel vaccinated against Covid-19. As of Wednesday, only more than 4,000 policemen have received the vaccine. Montejo said he hoped the number will increase to 7,000 before the end of August.
Meanwhile, Dr. Mary Jean Loreche, Visayas Covid-19 Vaccination Operations Center spokesperson, said Covid-19 vaccination is recommended for all pregnant and breastfeeding women despite the limited data available.
Any vaccine that is allowed for emergency use in the Philippines may be administered, preferably in the 14th week of gestation and onwards, or within the first trimester if there is a huge risk of transmission.
She also said women should continue breastfeeding after receiving the vaccine.
A total of 566,321 individuals in the region have been fully vaccinated as of Tuesday, with the highest number at 386,892 in Cebu, followed by 70,998 in Bohol, 84,892 in Negros Oriental and 23,539 in Siquijor. (WBS, JJL, KFD, AYB)