OFFICIAL STATEMENT NO. 34
THIRTY-SIX (36) NEW COVID-19 CASES IN CENTRAL VISAYAS, TOTAL CASES AT SIX HUNDRED THIRTY SIX (636). ONE (1) DEATH RECORDED IN THE REGION, TOTAL DEATHS NOW AT TWELVE (12).
29 APRIL 2020
The Department of Health Central Visayas Center for Health Development (DOH CVCHD) through the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center Sub-National Laboratory (VSMMC SNL) has released, as of 5:00 pm today, four hundred seventy-one (471) test results. There are thirty-seven (37) positive results which includes one (1) repeat test of a previously confirmed case. The total confirmed cases in the region is now at six hundred thirty-six (636). The number of deaths with COVID-19 increased by one (1) bringing the total deaths to twelve (12).
Twenty (20) of the new cases are recorded in Cebu Province, seventeen (17) of whom are persons deprived of liberty (PDL) from the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC). The remaining three (3) are residents in the municipalities of the Province of Cebu. With these additional cases, there are now twenty-five (25) total cases in the province of Cebu. Cebu City also have nine (9) additional cases bringing its total number of cases to five hundred fifty-five (555). Mandaue City has five (5) new cases with the total cases in the city now at seventeen (17) while Lapu-Lapu City has two (2) additional cases bringing its total cases to thirty-four (34).
The additional death recorded for today is a forty-four (44) year old male from a municipality in the Province of Cebu. He had existing medical conditions aside from being diagnosed with COVID-19 infection.
The additional confirmed cases and additional death have slightly increased the case fatality rate or the percentage of deaths among those who are infected with COVID-19 from 1.8% to 1.9%. It still lower compared to the global average of 6.4%.
As the province of Cebu records new cases, there are questions if the infection was obtained in the community or in the hospital where they were admitted. The answer to this question will never be a clear-cut answer. Contact tracing activities cannot answer who got the infection first, since the test results of close contacts would only tell us who among them got infected and had to be isolated immediately to limit transmission. For this reason, we encourage everyone to consider each one as a potential carrier of the virus; hence, regular handwashing, social/physical distancing, cough etiquette and home quarantine are measures that should be done so we cannot pass on the infection.
Let us not be too complacent just because we may have no diagnosed cases in our own communities. The infection and the virus itself could be hiding in our midst, undiagnosed, undetected. Therefore, we strongly urge everyone to strictly follow our containment measures so we can all be safe at all times. Let us continue to do our part in this fight to beat COVID-19 so we can finally heal as one.
God bless us all.
JAIME S. BERNADAS, MD, MGM, CESO III
Director IV
LHSD/VPB
Update: One (1) confirmed case that was recorded under Cebu City who is admitted in a private hospital will be tagged under Mandaue City. The details of his laboratory result is based on the details in the case investigation form from the reporting hospital. He was initially tagged in Cebu City but in reality, his address is part of Mandaue City. For 28 April 2020, Cebu City has 546 cases instead of 547. While Mandaue City has an additional one (1) case bringing its total to 12 from 11.
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