Cebu COVID-19 infections past peak, now falling – task force chief

LESS BUSY: This intersection on Colon Street in downtown Cebu City used to be packed with pedestrians but only a few people are out on Friday, as the city battles another surge of the coronavirus disease. (Photo by NESTLE SEMILLA / Inquirer Visayas)

CEBU CITY—While its number of active COVID-19 cases remains high, Cebu has already reached its peak in the current Omicron-driven surge with infections slowly on a downtrend, an official said.

Melquiades Feliciano, the deputy chief implementer for the Visayas of the COVID-19 Task Force, said the peak was recorded over a week ago and infections had started to drop, at least in the Metro Cebu area.

If this would continue, Cebu’s status would be downgraded from alert level 3 to alert level 2, he said.

“As always, there are peaks and there will always be downtrends. Hopefully, the trend here will continue so Cebu will be given a lower level of quarantine,” Feliciano said.

He said the surge in Cebu driven by the Omicron variant of COVID-19 was different from when the Delta variant infected a large number of residents of the island last year as the hospitals this time were not overwhelmed with patients.

“In last year’s surge, ambulances were lining up with patients waiting to be admitted. This did not happen in the current surge,” he noted.

Feliciano said both public and private hospitals in Cebu did not reach critical levels, which is also a factor that the alert level can be downgraded.

Eighty percent of those that were hospitalized in Cebu were unvaccinated and partially vaccinated individuals.

The other 20 percent, according to Feliciano, were fully vaccinated but mostly with comorbidities.

“Vaccination is really the way to go,” he said.

Aside from the high vaccination rate in highly urbanized Metro Cebu areas, Feliciano also attributed the downtrend to the restrictions imposed by the local governments, such as the curfew and the continuous inspections of establishments to ensure they complied with health protocols.

As of Feb. 5, Cebu City has 6,008 active COVID-19 cases—the highest on the island, according to the Department of Health.

It was followed by Cebu province with 3,268, Lapu-Lapu City (1,519), and Mandaue City (936).