Cebu province is now considered a “serious concern” due to a continuous increasing trend in new cases of COVID-19, according to the OCTA Research Group’s latest report released on Thursday.
The group reported that Cebu province averaged 147 new COVID-19 cases per day over the past seven days.
This is an increase of 67 percent from the previous week (December 17 to 23, 2020) wherein the province averaged just 11 new cases per day.
“The reproduction number in Cebu province over the past week was 1.57, much higher than the reproduction number for the entire Philippines, which was 0.96,” the team said.
They further noted that the positivity rate over the past week was 6 percent even as PCR testing in the region increased by 10 percent to 2,400 tests per day.
“While the attack rate of Cebu was still below the high risk cutoff, the significant increase in new cases, if unmitigated, could pose challenges to the healthcare system of the province,” the OCTA Research Group pointed out.
It noted that the last time Cebu was placed under enhanced community quarantine, the province averaged 400 new cases per day.
“This number could be reached in two weeks if trends are not reversed,” OCTA said.
They expressed concern over the possibility that the UK B.1.1.7 variant is spreading in parts of Cebu.
