Cebu City COVID cases spike, strengthens its extraction efforts and isolation centers

MINERVA BC NEWMAN

CEBU CITY -- The Cebu City Emergency Operations Center (EOC) has strengthened its operations by adding more personnel and resources for its extraction efforts and opening 10 more barangay isolation centers to meet the rising number of COVID-19 cases in the City.

As of February 12, Cebu City recorded a total of 14,160 COVID-19 cases since March of 2020 and currently there are 2,671 active cases and a total of 711 deaths, the EOC reports said.

Out of the active cases, 413 of which are isolated in BICs, 396 are in NOAH, 155 are in Cebu City Quarantine Center, 60 are staying in Bayanihan Cebu IEC Field Center while others are staying at the DOH-accredited hotels and pension houses.

Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Disease (IATF-MEID) in the Visayas, Maj/Gen. Mel Feliciano has given the EOC until this weekend to extract all the backlogs.

Cebu City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office CCDRRMO head Ramil Ayuman said they have augmented an additional 20 personnel for the extraction team and opened 10 more isolation centers with 762 bed-capacity to accommodate new COVID cases.

CCDRRMO operations head and in-charge of extraction team, Harold Alcontin bared that the additional personnel and ambulances from CCDRRMO helped fast-track efforts of the EOC extraction team to address the spike in COVID-19 positive cases for the past weeks now.

Alcontin explained that extraction teams are tasked with pulling out COVID patients from their homes and transferring them to isolation centers to help lessen the possibility of transmission to the household members.

“The house with a positive case would be locked down and household members have to undergo swab tests.  The challenge remains that most of the individuals who tested positive for Covid-19 in Cebu City do not cooperate with the authorities especially during extraction procedures,” Alcontin bared.

According to Alcontin that the EOC extraction team had to contend with the sudden spike in positive cases last Wednesday, February 10 when there were 250 COVID patients that need to be transferred to isolation centers.

Among the barangays with the double-digit positive cases in just one day are Barangay Tisa, Guadalupe, Labangon, Lahug, Punta Princesa, Mabolo, and Capitol Site.

These issues were discussed during the “Mugstoria Ta” Friday episode, an online conversation hosted by Asec Jonji Gonzales of the Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas (OPAV).