Department of Health-7 Chief Pathologist Dr. Mary Jean Loreche. (Screengrab file from OPAV)
CEBU CITY – As most localities in the Central Visayas region eases to general community quarantine (GCQ), health authorities here reported the gains of placing strict interventions in high-risk villages as translated in lower bed utilization rate in hospitals and positivity rate of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases.
Dr. Mary Jean Loreche, Department of Health (DOH)-Region 7 (Central Visayas) chief pathologist and spokesperson on Covid-19, said on Wednesday of the 1,014 bed capacity allocated for Covid-19 patients, only an aggregate of 603 beds are now occupied.
“We’ve noticed that our utilization rate is very low already because in our latest data based on aggregate numbers of bed allocated as against occupancy, the utilization rate is at 49 to 52 percent,” she said in Cebuano.
In its case bulletin as of Tuesday, the DOH-7 Center for Health Development reported a softer grip of Covid-19 in the region as evidenced by the lower positivity rate in the first four days of August when most localities were placed under GCQ compared to the same period of July when the city was placed under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ).
Based on the data, the region’s positivity rate from August 1 to 4 has dropped from the average of 9 percent from 24.9 percent during the first four days of July.
The DOH-7 reported a total of 5,268 Covid-19 tests using the reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center-Subnational Laboratory, the Cebu TB Reference Molecular Facility for Covid-19 Testing, Philippine Red Cross and three accredited private laboratories from August 1 to 4.
Of the number of RT-PCR tests, only 476 yielded positive results (with 35 retests from previously tested patients) which translated to an average of a low 9 percent of positivity rate as against the 24.9 percent on July 1 to 4.
In its July 1 to 4 data, the DOH reported a total of 5,135 tests at the six laboratories with 1,279 positive results, including the 74 retests.
Loreche attributed the slower positivity rate to the awareness of the people in region on the significance of testing the “correct population”.
“People are now more than willing to be tested, so our positivity rate is driven by the numbers, actual numbers (of individuals tested) and the correct population that we are testing,” she said.
The people, she said, are also aware of the procedures in reporting mild and asymptomatic patients of Covid-19 to be treated at the patient care centers.
She said private hospitals are also responsive to the call of the DOH to allocate more beds for Covid-19 patients. (PNA)
