QC Mayor Belmonte orders probe into spike in COVID-19 cases

Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte has ordered a probe into the report of an increase in the number of validated coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases in the city.

The number of cases validated by the Quezon City Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit (QC-ESU) and district health offices jumped by 129 on Thursday, May 14.

“Napansin natin na mula sa average na 10 to 20 additional validated cases per day, bigla tayong pumalo ng mahigit isandaang kaso. Dapat na masilip kung bakit nagkaganito,” said Belmonte in a statement.

QC-ESU Head Dr. Rolly Cruz attributed the increase in the number of cases to the recording of both new and old cases.

“Walang dapat ikatakot ang ating mga residente. Lumalabas na kaya tumaas ang bilang dahil may mga pumasok na lumang kaso sa database ng Department of Health (DOH). These cases are as far back as March 18 and iyong May 12 ngayon lang pumasok,” Cruz explained.

Cruz also said the DOH is stepping up in its efforts to sift through cases that are without address but marked as Quezon City.

As of Thursday, the DOH said there are 1,717confirmed COVID-19 cases in QC and 1,599 of these have complete addresses.

The number of cases validated by QC-ESU and district health offices was 1,417 with 825 active/recovering patients and 446 recoveries. -- BAP, GMA News