TACLOBAN CITY –– From just 28 cases last month, the number of persons infected with the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Eastern Visayas rose to 132.
On Friday alone, the region recorded 42 new cases, the highest reported single-day count since the pandemic broke out.
Most of the new cases involved locally stranded individuals (LSIs), who returned to their respective hometowns.
In Cebu City, cases of COVID-19 continued to rise amid efforts of the local government to contain the spread of the virus.
On Friday, the Cebu City Health Department recorded 167 new cases of the COVID-19 in the Queen City of the South.
Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella explained that the continued rise in the new cases could be attributed to the delay in the release of results from laboratories of the Department of Health (DOH).
He said the DOH has been dealing with backlogs, which caused a sudden increase in the number of reported cases in the past days.
Many of these cases, he said, were swabbed more than two weeks before the results were released.
“It sounds like we (Cebu City) have many cases but the real situation is there has been a backlog,” Labella said.
As of June 12, Cebu City has 3,361 COVID-19 cases, with 1,710 recoveries, and 33 deaths or a mortality rate of 1.1 percent.
Rumors surfaced that Cebu City, which is under general community quarantine (GCQ), might be reverted to a stricter modified enhanced community quarantine after June 15 due to its rising number of COVID-19 cases.
But for Labella, the low death rate and the rising number of recoveries have been a good sign that Cebu City is doing well in its fight against COVID-19.
Labella said he wanted Cebu City to remain under GCQ after June 15 so they would contain the virus as well as open some businesses to jumpstart the province’s stalled economy.
Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia, for her part, hoped that the province would be placed under a more relaxed modified GCQ by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases to allow more businesses to reopen.
As of June 12, Cebu Island has 4,228 cases, of which 3,361 are in Cebu City, 348 in Mandaue City, 169 in Lapu-Lapu City, and 325 in Cebu province.
At least 18 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), who returned to Cebu, and seven health workers also tested positive for the virus.
In Eastern Visayas, a rise in COVID-19 cases was recorded when LSIs and OFWs were allowed to return to the province in mid-May.
Of the current 132 cases in the region, 82 were from Leyte province.
Despite the increasing number of COVID-19 cases, Leyte Gov. Leopoldo Dominico Petilla said he has no plans of asking the national government to stop sending LSIs and OFWs back home.
“They (LSIs and OFWs) are being tested and swabbed upon their return and they go straight to our respective quarantine or isolation facilities. This lessens any spread or transmission of the virus in the community,” he said.
Alangalang town Mayor Lovely Yu hoped that the return of LSIs would be suspended.
“Alangalang, for the longest time, was COVID-19-free, and now, suddenly we have 17 cases. To Alangalanons, I hope you will reconsider your decision to return to Alangalang during this time considering the increasing number of COVID-19,” she said.
Yu said the town does not have enough isolation facilities to accommodate those infected with COVID-19.
The DOH-8 in Eastern Visayas recently described as “alarming” the recent rise in the COVID-19 cases in the region.
Dr. Minerva Molon, the director of DOH-8, said she was expecting the number of cases to increase as more people are set to return to their respective hometowns in the coming days.
“It’s just a matter of time, especially now that we have opened our gates. But what is good is that our local government units are ready with their quarantine facilities,” she said.
Molon appealed to the public to cooperate and follow the health protocols to help stop the spread of the virus.