3 infants among 5 COVID-19-related deaths in Cebu on May 19

CEBU CITY, Philippines – Cebu recorded a total of five new coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-related deaths on May 19, 2020, data from the Department of Health in Central Visayas (DOH-7) show.

Among the patients who died and tested positive of coronavirus were three infants, with a newborn baby from Cebu City being the youngest fatality so far.

The newborn child, according to DOH-7, died due to septic shock. But they added that the infant also tested positive of COVID-19, and was therefore included in the tally of mortalities.

The infant’s case was ruled as “death with incidental COVID-19 diagnosis.”

READ: Death of infant with COVID-19: Infection could be “incidental finding”

DOH-7 said it is still investigating and awaiting the official details on the deaths of four other patients.

These include a five-month-old from Lapu-Lapu City, and a one-year-old, and two male elderlies age 62 years old and 94 years old from Cebu province.

Fatality rate

The agency also logged a total of 41 additional COVID-19 patients in Cebu island for May 19, bringing Central Visayas’ count of confirmed COVID-19 cases to 2,126 with 115 recoveries and 35 deaths.

With the new deaths, the region’s case fatality rate has “slightly increased” from 1.47 percent to 1.65 percent.

“The additional confirmed cases and death have slightly increased the case fatality rate or the percentage of deaths among those who are infected with COVID- 19, from 1.47 percent to 1.65 percent. It is still lower compared to the average of 6.4 percent,” DOH-7 explained.

More than 13,000 samples from Central Visayas, including those from previously confirmed cases, have been examined for COVID-19 infection.

The region is the area with the highest number of COVID-19 cases outside Metro Manila, and is mainly attributed to the “aggressive and massive” testing being conducted in the local governments of Cebu. /bmjo