February 21, 2022
CEBU City reported a positivity rate of 3.64 percent on Sunday, February 20, 2022, which brought the city’s positivity rate within the five percent threshold set by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Sunday’s daily positivity rate (DPR) came 46 days after the last time this year that the city recorded its less-than-five-percent DPR, which was 4.25 percent on January 4, 2022.
Cebu City reported its record-high 56.62 percent positivity rate last January 21.
Active coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases on Sunday also hit below 1,000. The 985 active cases reported by the Cebu City Emergency Operations Center (EOC) on Sunday were a far cry from January 27’s 7,663 active cases, Cebu City’s highest number of active cases since the pandemic began nearly two years ago.
The active cases that surged in January were fueled by the Omicron variant of Sars-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19.
The EOC reported 145 recoveries and one new death on Sunday, bringing the total number of fatalities this month to 44.
Since the pandemic began in Cebu City in March 2020, the city has recorded a total of 54,411 cases. Of the number, 51,766 were recoveries and 1,660 were fatalities.
Hospital utilization rate was at 28.04 percent as only 187 out of 667 beds allocated for Covid-19 patients were occupied on February 20.
Declining numbers
Declining coronavirus disease numbers made City Councilor Joel Garganera, the EOC deputy chief implementer, to believe that Cebuanos will win in the battle against Covid-19
“We may have not won every single battle, but I believe that we will win this war. I also sincerely hope it will start to get better for all of us which is why I encourage everyone to get vaccinated as soon as possible so that we can return to greeting each other with a hug,” he said.
However, Cebu City must sustain the positivity rate below the five-percent level for two weeks, which the WHO said is among the indicators that the Covid-19 infections are already under control.
Despite this, Garganera said the city has already “overcome” the recent surge.
“Compared to other surges, we were able to overcome this recent surge more efficiently in just less than two months. This is not only due to the nature of the Omicron variant, but is ultimately a result of years of experience in the pandemic response of the EOC. It is now a muscle memory for us,” he said.
Garganera paid tribute to medical frontliners and the EOC personnel for their efforts and sacrifices in helping the city survive the pandemic. (KAL)