MANILA — Six areas are under watch due to the rising number of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the Department of Health said on Monday, as authorities reminded the public to continue practicing physical distancing and adhering to quarantine protocols.

“We’re monitoring Cebu City, of course. Yung buong probinsya ng Cebu also (The whole province of Cebu also), we are monitoring closely. Lapu-Lapu City, Quezon City, Mandaue City and the City of Manila,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said during a briefing.

“These are the Top 6 na tinitignan natin that for this past week nakakapagtala tayo ng maraming kaso,” she said.

(There are the Top 6 that we are looking at for this past week because we recorded many cases.)

Vergeire said DOH is also monitoring areas that used to be COVID-free and now have cases.

CLUSTERS

The health official said that the cases in Cebu City are coming from COVID-19 clusters in 64 barangays.

In NCR, there are 314 barangays with clusters as well.

“And we also have identified 3 closed settings dito sa National Capital Region kasama dyan yung sa MRT na binabantayan natin sa ngayon,” she added.

(And we also have identified 3 closed settings here in the National Capital Region, including the MRT, which we are monitoring now.)

As of Monday, there were 186 MRT personnel who have been infected with COVID-19. Most of them are asymptomatic.

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On Sunday, the COVID-19 cases rose to 44,254, with record-high additional cases of 2,434. Of that, almost half are “fresh cases” or those recently tested and validated. Of these 1,147 fresh cases, 440 are from NCR and 364 were from Region 7, where Cebu Island is.

Based on the DOH website, as of July 4, Quezon City has 3,420 COVID-19 cases while Manila has 2,415 cases, greatly exceeding the number of cases in other NCR cities.

Meanwhile, in Region 7 as of July 4, Cebu City has 5,126 cases, Cebu province 1,352 cases, Mandaue City 718 cases and Lapu-Lapu City 618 cases.

Vergeire also reminded the public to continue practicing physical distancing.

“Kahit anumang level ng quarantine yan, ECQ yan, GCQ, MGCQ, ang basic rule natin naka-quarantine tayo kaya kung wala kang kailangan gawin sa labas wag kang lumabas ng bahay,” she said.

(Whatever level of quarantine we are in — ECQ, GCQ or MGCQ, the basic rule is that we are in quarantine so if you don’t need to do anything outside, do not go out of the house.)