DOH: Metro Manila still COVID-19 epicenter, Cebu City just a hotspot

FILE – Health workers wait at a COVID-19 testing center at the Palacio de Manila on May 11, 2020 in Manila, Philippines. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

MANILA, Philippines — Metro Manila remains the epicenter of the coronavirus disease 2019 in the country while Cebu City is just considered a virus hotspot, the Department of Health said on Tuesday.

Health Secretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said that while COVID-19 cases in Cebu City soar, the coronavirus infection in Metro Manila still continues to increase.

She said that experts still say that the capital region remains the epicenter for the outbreak and that the country only sees hotspots in other areas.

“We will try to analyze again after maybe two weeks, but for now it’s still NCR and Cebu [City] is just one of those hotspots or areas of specific focus now for DOH,” Vergeire said in an online press conference.

In a television interview on Monday, Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said that Cebu City is “more likely” to be the new epicenter of COVID-19 in the Philippines.

National Task Force against COVID-19 chief implementer Carlito Galvez, Jr. later affirmed that the city is currently the “main focal point” of the disease.

Data from the DOH tracker showed that the number of COVID-19 cases in Metro Manila is already at 18,384 as of Monday, with 6,473 recoveries and 847 deaths.

Meanwhile, the Cebu City Health Department has already recorded 5,141 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the city. The number of patients who have recovered is at 2,713, while the death toll is registered at 169.

Nationwide, the number of coronavirus cases has reached 36,438, with 9,956 recoveries and 1,255 deaths.

CFC