Rising cases in Cebu province not yet alarming but still a ‘wake-up call’ – Cimatu

The overseer of the government’s coronavirus fight in Cebu City said that while the rising cases in Cebu province is not yet a cause for alarm, it is a “wake-up call” for the national government to help the local government.

Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu made the statement during a virtual press briefing with Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella and Major General Mel Feliciano, the Inter-Agency Task Force deputy implementer in Cebu, Tuesday, August 4, where he noted that while the daily count of COVID-19 cases in Cebu City has steadily declined, Cebu province is seeing a slow increase in cases.

“We have noted that the daily cases of the province is going up. And in fact, as of today or yesterday, the number of daily cases in the province is higher than in Cebu City,” Cimatu said in a mix of English and Filipino.

“This is not of course alarming but this is a wake-up call for us to also assist the province as far as containing the virus is concerned,” he added.

Cimatu gave the assessment on the same day that Cebu province recorded 40 new  coronavirus cases.  Cebu City recorded 29 new cases on Tuesday.

The total number of cases in Cebu province as of August 4 is 1,919 with 738 active cases, while Cebu City’s total is 9,123 confirmed cases with 2,741 active cases. 

Cebu City used to be identified as a COVID-19 hot spot because of its high number of coronavirus cases, prompting the national government to place it under modified enhanced community quarantine until July 31. Because of the slowdown of new cases in the city, it was eased into general community quarantine starting August 1.

Cebu province remains under modified general community quarantine (MGCQ) – the least restrictive form of quarantine. – Rappler.com