Spike in critical cases, deaths seen in Cebu City; ‘stringent restrictions’ needed — Galvez

MANILA, Philippines — Stringent restrictions are still needed in Cebu City, chief implementer of the national task force against COVID-19 Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. said Monday as he noted the increase in the city’s COVID-19 critical cases and death rate.

“Ang nakikita lang po namin ay tumataas po iyong tinatawag nating mga severe at saka mga critical cases. In fact, pati iyong rate of death tumataas na rin,” Galvez said in an online Palace briefing.

(What we are seeing is an increase in several and critical cases. In fact, the rate of death is also increasing.)

It appears that the severe cases are not being detected immediately, Galvez said.

“Sa Vicente Sotto [Memorial Medical Center] mayroon po silang presentation, out of 122 deaths, ang nakita nila is very critical sa information nila is less than 48 hours ang namamatay ay 86. Meaning iyong severe cases nila, hindi nila nade-detect kaagad,” he said.

(At Vicente Sotto, out of 122 deaths, a piece of critical information they say was that 86 died in 48 hours. Meaning, they are not detecting their severe cases immediately.)

Based on these observations, Galvez said it is best to maintain stringent restrictions in Cebu City.

“Ang nakikita namin, we don’t want to pre-empt iyong pronouncement ni Presidente, nakikita namin talaga kailangan pa ng stringent restrictions,” he added.

(We don’t want to preempt the President’s pronouncements but we think stringent restrictions are needed.)

Cebu City is under the strict form of lockdown or enhanced community quarantine until June 30. The city has so far recorded at least 4,900 COVID-19 cases.

President Rodrigo Duterte is expected to announce his decision on the new quarantine classifications of areas by Tuesday.