COVID-19 cases in Cebu City near 5,000 mark

Coronavirus Illustration | Stock Photo

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The total number of confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases in Cebu City is nearing the 5,000-mark.

This as the City Health Department (CHD) announced on Sunday, June 28, that they had documented a total of 4,962 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Cebu City.

The figures included the 131 new cases they logged on Sunday, June 28.

The number of COVID-19-related deaths in the city also rose to 156 when health officers reported six additional mortalities, all of whom were patients with co-morbidities.

Among the COVID-19 deaths included on Sunday was a resident from Barangays Mambaling and Duljo-Fatima, who had since passed away last May 16 and May 27 respectively.

The other five new fatalities are from Barangays Basak San Nicolas, Kamputhaw, Ermita, and Suba.

“As per protocol, COVID-related deaths are placed on the official list as soon as a death certificate is duly issued. It will be prudent on the part of the government to base its reporting on official documents,” the CHD said.

Meanwhile, the city reported 157 recoveries on Sunday, bringing the total number of recovered patients to increase to 2,596.

Of these number, 41 are from Barangay Duljo-Fatima, 23 from Barangay Kamputhaw, 20 from Barangay Punta Princesa, 14 from Barangay Basak San Nicolas, and 12 from Barangay Bulacao.

The other villages that reported more recoveries are Apas (2), Basak Pardo (1), Calamba (3), Cogon-Pardo (1), Inayawan (6), Kalunasan (2), Labangon (1), Lahug (6), Mabolo (2), Mambaling (6), Pahina Central (1), Pardo (7), Pasil (1), Sawang – Calero (2), Tinago (1), Talamban (1), Tisa (3) and one in T. Padilla Street.

On the other hand, the breakdown of the new 131 cases are as follows: Apas – 3, Bacayan – 1, Basak Pardo – 2, Basak San Nicolas – 5, Buhisan – 1, Bulacao – 1, Calamba – 2, Camputhaw – 2, Capitol – 4, Carreta – 3, Cogon Pardo – 2, Cogon Ramos – 1, Duljo-Fatima – 3, Guadalupe – 8, Hipodromo – 2, Kalunasan – 1, Kamagayan – 1, Kasambagan – 1, Labangon – 4, Lahug – 10, Lorega – 2, Mabolo – 5, Mambaling – 1, Pahina San Nicolas- 1, Pahina Central – 1, Pardo – 5, Punta Princesa- 6, Quiot – 2, San Roque – 2, Sambag I – 2, Sambag II – 6, San Jose – 1, San Nicolas Proper – 4, Sta. Cruz – 18, Suba – 1, Talamban – 5, Tinago – 5, and Tisa – 5

The CHD also recorded one new COVID-19 patient from T. Padilla, and is currently verifying the address of another.

Conflicting Data

In their recent announcement, the CHD also explained the discrepancies between their own data and those reported from the Department of Health in Central Visayas (DOH-7).

“The report from the DOH is based on the linelist (results) given by laboratories. Our department, Cebu City Health, sanitizes that list. After thorough verification of our contact tracing team, we cull out those that are not from the city and also extract those that are double entries. The data that we present are actual cases traced and identified by our frontliners,” the CHD said.

On June 27, the DOH-7 reported 5,598 in the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases for Cebu City. The CHD, for their part, accounted 4,831, which is lesser by 767 than the figures from the regional health office.

Aside from the total documented coronavirus cases, the CHD and the DOH-7’s respective sets of data also differed in terms of deaths and recoveries.

The DOH-7, for their part, stated that the figures in their daily COVID-19 reporting ‘may change after validation and updating of database’. /dbs