Cebu City has become the new epicenter of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the Philippines, replacing Metro Manila, due to the rapid increase in its number of infections, severe and critical cases, and deaths.
This was bared by Presidential Peace Adviser Carlito Galvez Jr., chief implementer of the National Task Force (NTF) on COVID-19, in a Laging Handa press briefing on Monday.
It was seen as a validation of a similar pronouncement made earlier by Interior and Local Government Secretary Eduardo Ano, the vice chief implementer of the task force, in a television interview.
“Ang pinaka-main focal point po natin is Cebu City considering the parameters and thresholds. The new cases are really increasing, even surpassing the whole NCR [National Capital Region], and the case of death mataas rin po.
‘Yung tinatawag nating recoveries ay malakas din but ‘yung Level 3 hospitals ay very limited,” he said.
As of Sunday, the Department of Health (DoH) recorded 4,562 cases in Cebu City, the most among the cities and provinces across the country. It was followed by Quezon City with 3,161 cases; City of Manila with 2,290 cases; Cebu province with 1,036 cases; and Makati City with 961 cases.
Cebu City is also the area with the most number of new cases in the last 14 days by date of onset of the illness. It registered a total of 910 new cases, ahead of Cebu province with 407 cases; Quezon City with 364 cases; City of Manila with 280 cases; and Mandaue City with 238 cases.
“Na-surpass niya ‘yung level ng active cases ng 15 heavily urbanized cities, siya po ang pinakamataas,” Galvez said.
“Sa critical care, ‘yung lahat ng hospitals halos napupuno po,” he added.“
