FOR the second straight day, the Department of Health (DOH) reported more than 1,900 new cases of coronavirus infection, pushing the cumulative case count in the Philippines closer to 550,000.
In its case bulletin at 4 p.m. Sunday, February 14, 2021, the DOH recorded 1,928 new cases, which increased the cumulative case count to 549,176.
There were eight additional mortalities, the first single-digit tally in about a month. These raised the death toll from coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) to 11,515, but the case fatality rate remained at 2.1 percent.
The DOH case bulletin reported a “mass recovery” of 10,967, which reduced the number of active cases to 25,918 and increased the total number of recoveries to 511,743.
Under the DOH’s time-based recovery scheme, coronavirus-positive individuals without any symptoms of Covid-19 are deemed to have recovered.
Based on the case bulletins, 11,866 new cases were added in the recent seven days from February 8 to 14, slightly higher than the 11,692 in the February 1 to 7 period but lower than the 11,999 cases in the week from January 25 to 31.
New infections accelerated to 12,887 in January 11 to 17 period and further to 13,042 from January 18 to 24 in what officials warned was a post-holiday surge.
Cebu City, Cebu Province
Cebu City continued to post the highest number of new cases of coronavirus infection in a 14-day period while Cebu Province came in third, surpassing Davao City, based on the DOH tracker.
As of February 13, 2021, the DOH tracker listed 1,848 new cases in the last 14 days in Cebu City, double the 921 cases in the same period in Quezon City.
Given that Cebu City has a smaller population of about one million compared to Quezon City’s estimated 2.9 million people, the risk of contracting Sars-CoV-2 was six times higher in Cebu City than in Quezon City during the period under review.
Based on the DOH tracker, more than 18 Cebu City residents per 10,000 population contracted the virus in the last 14 days compared to three residents per 10,000 population in Quezon City.
Cebu Province followed Quezon City closely with 892 new cases and surpassed Davao City’s 836 infections in the same period. Cebu Province and Quezon City have roughly the same population size.
Based on the DOH Central Visayas case bulletins, active cases in Cebu Province breached 1,000 on February 13.
With 93 new infections, the total number of active cases in Cebu Province went up to 1,033. New cases in Cebu have exceeded 50 a day since February 2.
Active cases in Cebu City, on the other hand, neared 3,000 on February 13, or more than half of the 5,385 active cases in Central Visayas region.
Except on February 1, Cebu City has been recording more than 100 new cases in a day. A new high of 249 cases was reported on February 9, followed by 235 cases on February 13.
Central Visayas
The total number of active cases, referring to coronavirus-positive persons who are under isolation or in hospitals, breached 5,000 on February 12 in Central Visayas.
As of February 13, DOH-7 reported 5,385 active cases, 1,508 deaths and 25,918 recoveries in Central Visayas.
More than half of the active cases, or 2,917, were in Cebu City while about a fifth, or 1,033, were in Cebu Province.
Mandaue City had 541 active cases while Lapu-Lapu City had 377, slightly higher than the 364 in Negros Oriental.
Bohol had 136 active cases while Siquijor had the lowest number at 17.
In terms of new cases, Central Visayas had the second highest number in the last 14 days, the DOH national tracker showed.
There were 3,740 new cases in the region, fewer by almost 1,000 than the 4,707 new cases in the National Capital Region.
Other regions with rising cases for the period were Calabarzon with 1,955, Davao Region with 1,564 and Central Luzon with 1,279.
Globally, more than 108 million people have been infected and nearly 2.4 million had died as of 2:30 p.m. Sunday, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.
The United States has the most number of cases at over 27 million and nearly half a million deaths. The Philippines was 31st in terms of cumulative cases since the start of the pandemic. (Marites Villamor-Ilano / SunStar Philippines)