THE Department of Health (DOH) 7 logged a total of 596 new recoveries on Friday, Sept. 3, 2021, bringing Central Visayas’ total number of recoveries to 99,900 or about 84 percent of the region’s coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) cases.
The DOH 7 said 218 of the new recoveries were recorded in Cebu Province. The Province also has the most number of active cases in the region at 4,668, according to DOH’s Sept. 3 report.
Cebu City recorded another 214 individuals who have recovered from the disease, while Lapu-Lapu City, Mandaue City, and Negros Oriental also recorded 100, 50 and 14 new recoveries, respectively.
The number of active cases in Central Visayas, meanwhile, increased to 15,401 on Friday after 965 of the 4,391 specimens tested on the same day yielded positive results.
Of the number, 359 were recorded in Cebu Province, followed by Cebu City (178), Bohol (152), Lapu-Lapu City (89), Mandaue City (82), Negros Oriental (72), and Siquijor (33).
The DOH 7 also reported 33 new deaths on Friday. The number, though, includes patients who died more than a week ago.
The 33 new deaths were from Cebu Province (25), Cebu City (4), Mandaue City (2), Lapu-Lapu City (1), and Negros Oriental (1).
The DOH 7 also reported that 184 of the 272 intensive care unit (ICU) beds allocated for Covid-19 patients in the region are already occupied as of Friday. Of the 1,070 ward beds dedicated to Covid-19 patients in all the infirmaries and levels 1, 2, and 3 hospitals in the region, only 427 are vacant. At the isolation facilities, 988 of the 1,704 beds are being used.
In a Facebook post on Saturday, Sept. 4, the Province-run Sugbo News reported fewer active cases than the DOH’s count. It said the number of active Covid-19 cases in the Province decreased from 5,015 on Aug. 21 to 3,836 on Aug. 31. This further dropped to 3,519 active cases as of Thursday, Sept. 2, while the recovery rate increased to 77.1 percent, according to data released by the Integrated Provincial Health Office.
The Capitol has been recording Covid 19 figures reported by the 44 municipalities and six component cities under the Province, which is separate from the DOH 7’s records, to distinguish between Covid-19 cases that actually took place in residents in the province and individuals who listed the province as their home address.
The DOH earlier said the discrepancy in case figures is due to the delay in verifying the data from the local government units.
Cebu City also recorded fewer active cases compared with the DOH 7’s record of 3,812 cases in the city alone as of Friday. The Cebu City Emergency Operations Center (EOC) listed 2,260 remaining active cases, which is lower than the 2,643 active cases on Sept. 1.
Nine deaths related to Covid-19 were recorded in the first three days of the month, bringing to 1,255 the total number of Covid-19 deaths in the city as of Sept. 3.
City Councilor Joel Garganera, deputy chief implementer of the EOC, earlier explained that the data of the DOH 7 is usually not updated. The EOC and the DOH consolidate their figures before the end of each month.
The EOC reported a total of 38,403 Covid cases with 34,888 recoveries.
Garganera highlighted the improvement of the city’s positivity rate. On Sept. 3, the EOC recorded a daily positivity rate of 15.27 percent out of the 1,192 individuals tested.
Garganera said the daily positivity rate in the city has been below 20 percent in the past 11 days.
He also noted improvements in the hospital situation in the city.
He said on Sept. 1, the city’s 15 hospitals had an occupancy rate of 70.3 percent or 702 beds occupied by Covid-19 patients. On Sept. 3, their occupancy rate dropped to 65 percent or only 632 beds.
There are 973 beds dedicated to Covid-19 patients in the 15 hospitals.
Garganera reminded the public to continue being vigilant as their contribution to the frontliners’ efforts in fighting Covid-19.
“Covid is still very much around so at any time, if we tend to be complacent, the number of cases will spike,” said Garganera.
In a related development, the Visayas Covid-19 Vaccination Operations Center (VVOC) welcomed the Philippine Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the emergency use of the Moderna vaccine on children aged 12 to 17 years old.
Dr. Mary Jean Loreche, VVOC spokesperson, said they are awaiting the guidelines from the vaccine technical council.
“And there is also the issue of supply. In the meantime, we can start to include the 12 to 17 (years old) in the masterlist so when supplies are adequate and the guidelines are released, then we can have this age group included,” she said. (WBS & JJL)