COVID-19 is spreading in the city at a rate much faster than it did since the start of the global pandemic, and officials could only theorize that it’s the Omicron variant that’s causing the surge.
The number of new single-day cases in Cagayan de Oro more than doubled in just five days. From 159 Covid-19 cases on January 15, the cases climbed to 279 on Thursday, January 20.
“The surge of Covid-19 cases is very alarming, I have never seen so much spike in the two years of the pandemic,” Dr. Gina Itchon, head of the research and development at the state-run Northern Mindanao Medical Center (NMMC), said.
Itchon said she is afraid that the number of cases in Cagayan de Oro would still shoot up next week.
“This is not Delta. This is Omicron already. The infections are spreading so fast,” Itchon said.
Itchon said they have sent swab samples to the Philippine Genome Center to validate their suspicion that the more transmissible Omicron variant was causing the upsurge of Covid-19 infections in the city.
The Department of Health-10 Regional Epidemiology Surveillance and Disaster Response Unity logged 275 Covid-19 cases in Cagayan de Oro as of 7 pm Thursday, an increase of more than 100 percent compared to the number of infections it documented last Saturday, January 15.
The City Health Office recorded eight Covid-19-related deaths since January 17, the first time the city lost a resident to the virus.
Four of those who died were unvaccinated while the other four had comorbidities, officials said.
One of the newly infected is Dr. Ted Yu, Cagayan de Oro Health Office medical officer, and prominent figure in the city’s Covid-19 campaign to curb Covid-19 transmissions.
Yu went into isolation after he tested positive for the virus on Tuesday.
Itchon cautioned residents against underestimating Omicron, which is highly transmissible especially to those not vaccinated.
She said of the 90 patients now confined at the NMMC, 90 percent are unvaccinated.
Mayor Oscar Moreno said Omicron is less severe to those fully vaccinated and boosted.
“That is the silver lining in this surge. Most of those infected are mild cases,” he said.
