Cebu Covid-19 updates as of mid-August 2020

Cebu is one of the areas in the country with the highest cases of Covid-19. It has gone on a lot of government-mandated adjustments in their effort to ‘flatten the curve’. Here are the latest updates in Cebu province, Lapu-lapu City, Mandaue City, and Cebu City.

Cebu City

300M city savings

The city has over Php300 million worth of savings from Cebu City Hall’s 27 departments. This amount is largely attributed to programs and events that did not push through because of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the committee on budget and finance.

The city savings will be added to the Covid-19 crisis response budget. Infrastructure and other non-urgent projects and programs will be postponed.

Hotel and BPO company in violation of isolation protocols

A hotel and BPO firm in Cebu City are under investigation by the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) after violating isolation protocols.

Escario Central Hotel is put in lockdown for accommodating three guests who are positive with Covid-19 albeit having no permit to isolate them. They remained open for business despite being ordered by Emergency Operations Center (EOC) to close down, and their violation caused a spread among their tenants.

Aspire BPO let one of its workers, who were among the quarantined in the seventh floor and were not supposed to leave the building, go home in Barangay Talamban on August 4.

The hotel is no longer allowed to accept guests, while the BPO firm might face closure.

Satellite dialysis center in VSMMC

A satellite dialysis center for renal patients is set up outside of Vicente Sotto Memorial Center (VSMMC). It started its operations on August 14 and will cease on December 31.

This project is a collaboration of the province of Cebu, Cebu City, VSMMC, GoNegosyo Project, ARK PCR Initiative and M Prime Holdings Inc and upon the instruction of Department of Health (DOH).

Granular lockdown lifted in 6 sitios

The granular lockdown in six sitios in Cebu City that started on June 27 has been lifted. According to Regional Inter-Agency Task Force-7 (RIATF-7), this decision was made after getting data from contract tracing which showed negative Covid-19 test results after being in lockdown for a month.

The areas are in C. Mina Extension in Barangay Mabolo, Balaga Drive to Sitio Cekalco in Barangay Labangon, Sitio San Isidro and Abellanosa Compound in Barangay Quiot, Tuada Compound in Barangay Tisa, and Sitio Eyha in Barangay Guadalupe.

Cebu Province

Avigan

Avigan, a Japanese-manufactured anti-flu medicine, is being used in a number of hospitals in the province in Cebu. The medicine is being administered to Covid-19 patients as a ‘compassionate drug’ meaning unapproved drug used to treat critically ill patients with no other medical options.

According to Dr. Mary Jean Loreche of DOH in Central Visayas, the drug has been circulated to patients since July and was shipped in Japan for clinical trials. The efficacy of the medicine is unknown.

Best crisis responses in Cebu to be collated

Commendable practices in response to the Covid-19 crisis were demonstrated by some cities and municipalities. These practices are to be collated by the Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas (OPAV) in a manual or playbook so they could be adopted and emulated in other areas in the Visayas region.

The cities of Mandaue, Cebu, and Lapu-lapu attribute their noteworthy crisis response to the creation of cluster clinics, establishment of Emergency Operations Centers (EOCs), improved contact tracing systems, widespread information and testing, and various legislations imposing strict implementations.