Despite the notable rise in coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) cases in this city, the Department of Health in Region 7 (DOH-7) has observed a low positivity rate in Central Visayas as it reported 27 additional recoveries in the region.

Dr. Jaime Bernadas, DOH-7 chief, on Sunday said out of the 2,517 individuals who submitted their swab specimen for reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) testing, only 62 tested positive, which shows a 2.5 positivity rate.

He said that 54 of 62 test results were from the DOH-7’s Cebu TB Reference Laboratory Molecular Facility for Covid-19 Testing (CTRL) here, five from the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center-Subnational Laboratory (VSMMC-SNL), two from the Negros Oriental Provincial Hospital Molecular Laboratory and one from Chong Hua, a private hospital in this city.

The DOH-7 chief noted a low positivity rate in the CTRL molecular laboratory as it only found 54 new cases out of the 1,565 swab specimen tested; five out of 597 in the VSMMC-SNL; two out of 14 in the NOPHML; and one out of 71 in Chong Hua Hospital.

Bernadas also said that out of nine DOH-accredited testing laboratories in Central Visayas that conducted RT-PCR testing on Sunday, only four centers found new positive results.

The remaining five testing centers — Prima Care Alpha Covid-19 Testing Laboratory, University of Cebu Medical Center, Cebu Doctors University Hospital in Cebu, and the Gov. Celestino Gallares Memorial Hospital and Bohol Containerized PCR Laboratory in Tagbilaran City — submitted swab specimens but all tested negative for Covid-19.

Meanwhile, because of the 27 new recoveries, the number of individuals healed from Covid-19 in the region is now 21,034 or 88.6 percent of the total number of cases recorded.

The DOH-7 said 18 of the 27 new recoveries are from Bohol, six from Cebu province, two from this capital city, and one from Mandaue City.

On Sunday, the DOH-7 recorded 62 new coronavirus disease cases in the region — 22 from Cebu City, 16 from Cebu City, 14 from Negros Oriental, eight from Mandaue City, and two from Lapu-Lapu City.

The region now has a total of 1,316 active Covid-19 cases with Cebu province listed as having the highest number with 374, followed by Cebu City with 371; Negros Oriental with 298; Lapu-Lapu City with 136; Mandaue City with 92; Bohol with 38 and seven from Siquijor.

Siquijor has no new active cases and all of the seven Covid-19 patients from the island province have already recovered from coronavirus disease.

The DOH-7 recorded no new deaths due to Covid-19 on Sunday and the number of fatalities remains at 1,377.

“Most deaths with comorbidities were from Cebu City and Cebu province,” Bernadas said.

He also said that “lifestyle-related chronic diseases are the leading comorbidities among Covid-19 deaths”.

“Cardiovascular disease ranks first followed by chronic kidney disease and diabetes mellitus,” he said. (PNA)