4 with COVID-19 symptoms die in Cebu province, but DOH exec says confirmed case stays at one

CEBU CITY—At least four persons under investigation (PUI), or those showing symptoms of COVID-19, have died in different hospitals in Cebu province.

Two of already tested negative for COVID-19 while health authorities await results of tests for the two other PUI.

Jaime Bernadas, director of the Department of Health in Central Visayas (DOH), said despite the deaths of the PUI, there was still only one confirmed COVID-19 case in Cebu province.

It wasn’t clear if authorities would attribute to COVID-19 the death of the four patients who had shown symptoms of the disease.

Bernadas said as of noon of March 24, “there is but one confirmed coronavirus case here.” It was that of a 65-year-old man who is still in hospital in Mandaue City.

He said the testing center at the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) continued to conduct tests for people with symptoms, or PUI.

Of 81 local COVID-19 tests done recently, nine yielded results that need “confirmatory tests” by the Research Institute of Tropical Medicine (RITM) in Manila. At least 73 patients were negative for the virus that causes COVID-19.

Bernadas would not say why there was a need for RITM confirmatory test for nine patients. He said that it was a technical procedure and shouldn’t be interpreted to mean the patients were either positive or negative for the disease.

He said, however, that the assumption was that those whose test results were “unclear” could be positive for COVID-19 and “containment” and contact tracing protocol should be activated.

As of March 23, Central Visayas has 14,662 persons under monitoring, or those with no symptoms, and 327 PUI.

Edited by TSB