OCTA Research Group Says Rising COVID Cases In Cebu “Concerning”
RISING COVID CASES IN CEBU – The OCTA Research group urged tourists to be cautious and avoid Cebu due to “concerning” spike in coronavirus cases.
On Saturday, the research group said reopening tourism in the province is not advisable. Furthermore, they emphasized that the presence of the UK virus strain in the area adds to their rising concern.
According to an article from ABS-CBN, Dr. Guido David, a member of the OCTA research group said:
Concerning ‘yun kasi kung kumakalat doon ang UK variant medyo problematic ‘yan. Di pa natin alam for sure kung kumakalat talaga kasi konti pa lang ‘yung na-sequence natin sa Cebu area
Additionally, Guido said that there was high confluence with coronavirus incidence across Cebu. He said that Cebu City had an average of 165 COVID-19 cases per day. Moreover, he emphasized that this number is almost the same as last year when Cebu was under an ECQ.
However, he noted that the only difference now is that hospital occupancy is not yet critical at 46%. As per the article, he said:
Yung number 1 LGU base sa report namin ang pinakamaraming cases per day is Cebu City. Number 2 ‘yung Quezon City. Sa Quezon City mga 81 cases per day siya. ‘Yung Cebu City nasa 165, double na siya. ‘Yung epicenter nandoon talaga sa Cebu area
But, he said that their projections for Cebu revealed that the city might have 70% occupancy in health care facilities in a few weeks. Likewise, areas in Cebu such as Mandaue, Lapu-Lapu and Talisay also had spike in coronavirus cases.
Also, he suggested that the rise in COVID-19 cases in these area may be due to the new UK virus variant being confirmed. “Yung timing niya medyo nakakapagtaka at ngayon hindi pa tayo nakapag-sequence ng maraming cases sa Cebu“, he said.
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