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MANILA - Mass testing has shown more people infected with the novel coronavirus in Cebu City, Mayor Edgardo Labella said Thursday.

Labella said the city is using 40,000 swab testing kits and continues to conduct contact tracing.

"There’s a rise but we also make people understand that this is expected because we are continuously undertaking swab testing especially in those areas where there were found positive," he said in an ANC interview.

Some 80 percent of the city's 554 COVID-19 patients are without symptoms and are placed in 19 barangay isolation centers so as not to overwhelm hospitals, according to Labella.

There are also 5 cluster clinics across the city where residents can submit themselves voluntarily for testing if they feel symptoms of the virus, he added.

"(The hospitals) have not been fully occupied of patients and what we’re trying to prevent is being overwhelmed. We have this strategy wherein we divide positive asymptomatic, mild, moderate, and severe cases," Labella said.

Majority of some 200 prisoners at the Cebu City Jail who tested positive for the virus are also asymptomatic and have been isolated, according to the mayor.

The city is among areas placed under enhanced community quarantine until May 15.

• PH revises coverage of enhanced community quarantine until May 15

As of Wednesday, the Philippines has recorded 8,212 cases of the new coronavirus, with 1,023 recoveries and 558 deaths.

• COVID-19 cases in PH breach 8,000-mark; recoveries now at 1,023