Cagayan Oro only had 139 active COVID-19 cases on March 23, but the numbers sharply rose to 962 by Saturday, May 22.

City epidemiologist Dr. Teodulfo Joselito Retuya said he expected COVID-19 to still deliver an “uppercut” to the city within the next few days.

“People became complacent because the number of cases was relatively low in March. Then they started going out in April,” he said.

The result: the city’s cumulative COVID-19 cases increased by 2,285 – from 4,037 to 6,322 – in barely two months.

Retuya said the surge started after Holy Week in April – a period, ironically, during which Mayor Oscar Moreno ordered popular religious destinations and beach resorts in the city closed to the public to prevent crowding.

But Cagayan de Oro’s restrictions did not stop many people from taking their Holy Week break outside the city, and they brought the virus back home. Most of those who were infected traveled and took part in gatherings outside Cagayan de Oro, said Retuya.

Other events that factored in the surge were wakes, funerals, and parties – especially birthday celebrations, City Health Office data showed.

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Dr. Gina Itchon, research head of the state-run Northern Mindanao Medical Center (NMMC), said she doubted if Cagayan de Oro would see a significant decrease in COVID-19 cases anytime soon.

Itchon said doctors have observed the virus spreading and cases multiplying in Cagayan de Oro and elsewhere in the region at a much faster rate.

At the NMMC alone, the number of COVID-19 cases increased by 150%, said Itchon. 

In a May 21 memorandum, NMMC chief Dr. Jose Chan placed the hospital under Code Red status, and ordered that 50% of NMMC’s medical operations be devoted to COVID-19 cases. The government-owned hospital also suspended on Saturday, May 22, all elective surgery procedures and cut down outpatient services by half.

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Dr. Lorraine Nery, Cagayan de Oro’s health office chief, said COVID-19 patient admissions to public and private hospitals throughout the city have been increasing daily.

On Wednesday, May 19, the city registered 103 new cases in a single day, the highest so far in Northern Mindanao since 2020. New cases however dropped to 70 as of Saturday morning, May 22. Nonetheless, it brought the number of active COVID-19 cases in the city to nearly a thousand.

The situation has gotten so bad that the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) in Region 10 submitted a report about the surge in cases to the COVID-19 Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF).

“We provided them the data so they could make an informed decision on the appropriate quarantine levels needed for the region,” said Arnel Agabe, DILG director for Northern Mindanao.

A change in quarantine measures could affect the Region 10 cities of Cagayan de Oro, Iligan, El Salvador, Gingoog, Malaybalay, Valencia, Ozamiz, and Oroquieta; and the provinces of Bukidnon, Misamis Oriental, Misamis Occidental, Lanao del Norte, and Camiguin Island.

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Regionwide, the cumulative COVID-19 cases since 2020 increased to 17,910 as of Friday, May 21, with Cagayan de Oro accounting for 87%, or 15,724 of the cases. 

Northern Mindanao’s new COVID-19 cases registered at 224 that same day, 218 of which were recorded in Cagayan de Oro, Dr. Nery said. – Rappler.com