CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – The city health office (CHO) here has urged the public anew to strictly adhere to minimum public health standards against the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) despite the alert status in the city being downgraded to Level 1.
In an online briefer on Wednesday, CHO medical officer Dr. Ted Yu Jr. made the call after he reported the fifth batch of Omicron variant cases in the city.
The CHO data showed that the new batch of Omicron cases here is comprised of seven males and seven females, respectively, from the villages of Lumbia, Balulang, Carmen, and Canitoan with two each; and also one each from Barangays Macabalan, Iponan, Bonbon, Bulua, Bugo, and Patag.
Two of the 14 cases have died, of which one was unvaccinated, Yu said.
Yu clarified that the newly-confirmed Omicron cases were from different households.
The CHO has coordinated with the respective Barangay Health Emergency Response Teams (BHERTS) of the concerned villages for an intensive monitoring against acute respiratory infection and influenza-like illnesses among the recorded close contacts.
"(On Tuesday), we started our ongoing contact tracing even though they are already certified as recovered for three weeks. But still, we need to continue the contact tracing," Yu said.
Yu said they have recorded 53 close contacts of the new 14 Omicron cases.
He said specimens from the new batch were collected for genome testing from January 31 to February 4 this year and the results were released on March 6.
Overall, the city has recorded 61 Omicron variant cases, of which 55 are city residents, while the rest are re-tagged.
On the other hand, the CHO announced in the same online briefer that the number of Covid-19 active cases here has remained at double digits despite the city government tallying 11 new detected cases, bringing the total cumulative cases to 25,723.
Of the total active cases, 51 are currently admitted to different hospitals in the city while 46 are outpatients.
Yu also reported 31 new recoveries, bringing the total recoveries to 24,694, and two new deaths, bringing the total deaths to 932.
“We should not forget the minimum public health standards and avoid 3Cs [closed, crowded and close-contact]. We should defend ourselves from the virus,” he said.
Yu also encouraged individuals, especially those unvaccinated, to get inoculated with the Covid-19 vaccines for further protection against the virus.
As of March 8, the city has recorded 541,486 fully vaccinated individuals representing 90.25 percent of the total target population of 599,929.
Of the fully vaccinated population, 19.48 percent or 105,524 have received booster shots, while 33,386 have received their first dose of the vaccine.
Meanwhile, the local government resumed Wednesday the 5 to 11 age group vaccination, where they immunized a total of 673 children for the first dose and 575 children for the second dose.
Overall, the city has recorded 6,948 inoculated children under the particular pediatric group, 575 of whom have been fully vaccinated. (PNA)
