Cebu City ‘in midst of worst COVID-19 surge’ – OCTA

Ambulances carrying patients with severe symptoms of COVID-19 queue at the Chong Hua Hospital in Cebu City so they can be attended to by physicians at the emergency room. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)

MANILA, Philippines — Cebu City is now “in the midst of its worset COVID-19 surge” even as its reproduction number (R0) continues to “decrease,” OCTA Research said Sunday.

In its Aug. 8 report, OCTA said the seven-day average — from Aug. 1 to 7 — of new coronavirus cases in the city increased to 271. This is 22 percent higher than the previous week when 223 cases were reported.

The seven-day average was also higher than the peak of the surge last February when Cebu City reported 266 cases, according to OCTA.

The R0 of Cebu City is also showing a decrease, according to OCTA. The R0 indicates how infectious a disease is.

The R0 of Cebu City is now at 1.51 from 1.69 last week. It is also much lower than the R0 of 1.9 on July 22, the peak R0 during the surge, according to OCTA.

“The decrease in reproduction number indicates the pandemic in Cebu City may be decelerating,” OCTA said.

“The goal is to implement strict current measures and interventions to further decrease the reproductive number, eventually causing the number of daily COVID-19 cases to decrease,” it added.

Cebu City is under modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) until Aug. 15.

/MUF