DOH closely watching Cebu, Zamboanga City for spike in COVID-19 cases

Two areas outside Luzon are being monitored by the Department of Health (DOH) because of thesubstantial increase in the number of COVID-19 cases inside their jails.

In a virtual forum on Friday, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said these are Cebu province including Mandaue City in the Visayas, and Zamboanga City in Mindanao.

In Cebu, 179 cases were already recorded among those staying in confined settings, she noted.

The health official did not mention exact figures for Zamboanga but said that appropriate actions have already been done.

"'Yung sa Zamboanga, it's the same as with Cebu. It's a closed setting also yung clustering of cases nila doon sa Zamboanga City jail kung saan mayroon nang mga apektadong personnel ng BJMP at saka ng PDLs (persons deprived of liberty) mismo," Vergeire said.

"Nai-isolate na nila 'yung mga persons deprived of liberty at mga personnel naman ng government ay mayroon nang mga pinag-admittan. Walang mga sintomas mostly dito sa ating mga PDLs sa Zamboanga City Jail," she added.

Contact tracing and investigation regarding the said transmissions are ongoing.

Despite the rise in new cases reported in the said areas, Vergeire said that Cebu and Zamboanga cannot be called "new epicenters" of the COVID-19 yet as around 60% of the cases are reported in Metro Manila.

"Ilang araw pa lang na tumataas ang kaso diyan. Pangalawa, nasa mga institution na closed 'yan. We are not seeing it widely in a community," she said.

Based on latest information from the DOH's online tracker, Cebu province and Mandaue City has recorded 1,371 cases of COVID-19, with 15 deaths and 27 recoveries.

Zamboanga City, on the other hand, has 42 confirmed cases. Two deaths and three recoveries were recorded.

Dr. Edsel Salvana, who is part of the government's technical advisory group for COVID-19 response, also pointed out that the increased testing capacity in Cebu must also be factored in the spike of detected cases.

"Kung titingnan natin yung distribution ng cases, 'yung cases in NCR, 'yung new cases per day, has actually been steady. Ang nagpapataas sa kaniya ngayon is 'yung new number of cases in Cebu," Salvana said.

"Naging napaka-proactive din naman kasi ng Cebu in terms of testing, and very aggressive with [contact] tracing so parang nagkakaroon din ng mas maraming cases but in fact tama naman ang ginagawa nila para hanapin ang cases at ma-isolate," he added.

According to the DOH, the testing capacity in Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center has tremendously increased from only 90 tests daily to the current 600 tests per day.

"We're not saying na full potential na 'yan. Also, we have to consider that other regions are still sending samples to Vicente Sotto. We still don't have any RT-PCR based licensed lab in Region VIII," Vergeire said.

As of May 8, the Philippines recorded a total of 10,463 cases of COVID-19. Mortalities have reached 696 while 1,734 have recovered. -NB, GMA News