National gov’t deploys team to investigate surge of COVID-19 cases in Cebu

COVID-19 patients in Alaska, Mambaling are transferred to an isolation center in this file photo. | Photo Courtesy of Cebu City PIO

CEBU CITY, Philippines – The national government has sent a team of epidemiologists to Cebu to investigate the cause of the surge of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases here.

Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., the chief implementer of the National Task Force against COVID-19, announced the development during a public briefing that was held Friday night, June 19, 2020.

“Nagpadala na nang surveillance team coming from DOH (Department of Health) Central last Thursday at mag-investigate this weekend upang tignan nang mabuti ang kalagayan nang buong Cebu,” Galvez said.

(A surveillance team from the DOH Central office was already sent last Thursday to conduct an investigation over the weekend to closely monitor the situation in the entire Cebu.)

Galvez also said DOH in Central Visayas (DOH – 7) has also deployed around 30 to 40 healthcare personnel to augment human resources in hospitals that are attending to COVID-19 patients.

“Nagdagdag din nang rooms ang apat na pribadong hospitals para maaccommodate natin sila and upang mareduce ang waiting time sa mga emergency rooms…” he added.

(Four private hospitals have expanded their bed capacities to accommodate more patients and to reduce waiting time at their emergency rooms.)

The National Task Force chief also expressed alarm not only on the continuous rise of COVID-19 cases in Cebu, particularly in the province’s capital, but also on the number of patients admitted in the infirmaries.

“Tumataas ang admission ng severe at critical cases at ibang ospital sa Cebu at marami na rin ang namamatay. Meaning ‘yung critical care utilization ay nando’n na sa critical level,” Galvez said.

(There is a rise in the number of admissions of severe and critical cases in hospitals in Cebu and a lot of people have already died. This means that critical care utilization has already reached a critical level.)

On Friday morning, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. apologized to the United Kingdom after a British national died in Cebu without being admitted to any of the hospitals here.

As of June 19, Cebu island logged a total of 5,632 COVID-19 cases.   About 2,448 of these individuals have already recovered while 148 have died.

Cebu City, considered as the epicenter of the outbreak in Central Visayas, has been reverted to the strictest quarantine mode last June 15.

Read: It’s back to ECQ for Cebu City

Meanwhile, Galvez urged all sectors in Cebu to unite to bring down the COVID-19 pandemic to controllable levels.

He also advised local government units (LGUs) and law enforcers here to reinforce quarantine protocols in an effort to reduce the virus’s transmission rate. / dcb