OCTA: Cebu City’s COVID-19 wave now on ‘downward trend’

The COVID-19 infections in Cebu City and the rest of Cebu province have been decreasing for two weeks now since they peaked on July 31, independent monitoring group OCTA Research said Tuesday.

In a tweet, OCTA fellow Dr. Guido David said Cebu City had an average of 56 new COVID-19 cases per day from August 9 to August 15. This was a decline from the average of 68 cases per day recorded the week prior.

The COVID-19 growth rate in the city also went down to -17%, while its average daily attack rate (ADAR) is “low” at 5.37 per 100,000 population.

ADAR pertains to the incidence showing the average number of new cases in a period per 100,000 people.

Cebu City’s reproduction number also decreased to 0.92 on August 13, from the 1.03 on August 6.

Reproduction rate refers to the number of people infected by one case. A reproduction number that is below 1 indicates that the transmission of the virus is slowing down.

The city’s healthcare utilization was at 33.8%, while its intensive care unit (ICU) occupancy was at 42.5% as of Monday, August 15.

Meanwhile, COVID-19 positivity rate in Cebu declined to 10.9% on Monday from 12.4% on August 13.

Positivity rate refers to the percentage of people who were found positive for COVID-19 among the total number of individuals tested. 

The Department of Health (DOH) said that “all island groups on a plateau” for COVID-19 based on the infographic released on Tuesday.

The Philippines that day also logged a total of 2,633 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the active caseload to 36,190. — RSJ, GMA News