Labella: 353 cases reported June 30 not just from 1 day

THE 353 recorded Covid-19 cases on June 30, 2020 were not swabbed in a single day, Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella clarified.

Before the announcement of the extension of the enhanced community quarantine in Cebu City on June 30, the Cebu City Health Department (CCHD) had logged 353 Covid-19 cases, the city’s record for the highest number of reported cases in a single day.

Labella said some of those cases were swabbed on June 22 and the results were released only then.

“The swabbing started on June 22. There were nine days, but the results were issued on June 30, so it appeared there are 353 cases,” said Labella.

Department of Health (DOH) Central Visayas Director Jaime Bernadas said the data released by the CCHD was an accumulation from previous days.

“The data that was released on June 30 was conflicting because the one we released is already a clean data,” explained Bernadas in a press conference on July 1.

Bernadas, though, said the CCHD and DOH are now harmonizing their data.

He urged the CCHD and the City Epidemiological and Surveillance Unit (Cesu) to call the DOH office daily to unify the data.

He said, “It’s a matter of communication.”

While the data of the two offices are not yet synchronized, Secretary Roy Cimatu, Cebu overseer of the Covid-19 response, said the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases will use the data of the city.

It has also been a major concern of some village chiefs that there is a delay in relaying the information on the Covid-19 cases in their barangays, usually resulting in late response or action in isolating the Covid-19 patients.

Bernadas said it is the responsibility of the City Health Office to inform the village chiefs.

Bernadas said his office immediately sends all test results from laboratories to the CCHD and Cesu.

“If there are delays, then we are no longer privy on the delay,” said Bernadas.

During the press conference on July 1, both the DOH and local government unit did not mention any particular action to address the concern of the village chiefs.

Labella also said it is only right that data of the Covid-19 situation in each barangay will be posted again on the CCHD Facebook page.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III also agreed with Labella, but he said they have to be prudent on the data they provide to the public.

Secretary Carlito Galvez, Chief Implementer of the National Task Force (NTF) Against Covid-19, said only quality data has to be shown to avoid causing alarm to the public.

Galvez said the number of active cases has to be emphasized. S