Cebu City recorded its lowest coronavirus positivity rate at .6% this week the Cebu City government reported on its social media pages on Thursday, October 8. 

This feat was achieved on Tuesday, October 6, when only 5 individuals out of 776 who were tracked through contact tracing tested positive. 

The Cebu City government said in a statement that even though the number of positive cases in the city was going down, residents should still practice safety measures. It said the community must continue wearing face masks, face shields, and regularly wash their hands to prevent a resurgence of cases.

“Clearly we are enjoying little victories. These are fruits of our collective labor between EOC (Emergency Operations Center), the city government, and the private sector,” EOC head Joel Garganera told reporters in a group chat conference. “The more we have to be aggressive in finding, and chasing COVID-19. Complacency has no place in our war against this pandemic.”

This latest development is a major improvement considering Cebu previously had the highest positivity rate in the country at about 33% of every 100 patients testing positive for the virus last June. This mark was the highest positivity rate recorded in the country during that period.

According to the World Health Organization, a positivity rate under 5% is a sign that an area has the pandemic under control.

After experiencing a surge in new cases from June to July, Cebu City has since flattened its curve because of aggressive contact tracing, together with isolation of positive patients, widespread testing, treatment of those with symptoms, and a proactive data-driven response. 

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Cebu City currently has 343 active cases out of 10,061 total cases, 9,043 recoveries and 675 deaths as of this posting. 

The city is currently entering its second month of modified General Community Quarantine (MGCQ), the least restrictive quarantine status.

Many of the businesses which closed during the lockdown are beginning to reopen at limited capacity and with extra monitoring by the EOC. 

Currently, the city is conducting pooled testing – via RT-PCR swab and rapid test – of the vendors at the Carbon Market, after their data found 24% of the new cases had visited supermarkets and public markets within their period of infection.

So far, only 2 of the 1,122 vendors tested positive via RT-PCR swab test. – Rappler.com