CEBU CITY, Philippines — Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella on Sunday, April 26, 2020, announced that 40 new coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases were recorded in the city.

This development brings the cumulative total confirmed COVID-19 cases in the city to 451.

“These positive patients will be transferred to their respective Barangay Isolation Centers as soon as possible. The Cebu City Health Department continues to implement contact tracing, testing and confinement protocols in the affected barangays,” Labella said.

Twenty two out of 40 are reported in at least three sitios in Barangay Luz, where Sitio Zapatera belongs. 13 are from Sitio Sto. Niño while 8 in Sitio San Vicente and 1 in Sitio Lubi.

All three sub-villages are located along Cabantan Street, which sits only a few meters away from Sitio Zapatera. There are already 140 COVID-19 patients found in Sitio Zapatera.

This means that Barangay Luz, a densely populated village in uptown Cebu City, now has a total of 162 individuals infected with the virus.

The city also has another COVID-19 case in Barangay Capitol Site, bringing its total to two. The new patient is a resident of the village’s Sitio Ponce.

Twelve more COVID-19 patients residing in Block 3 Missionaries and Sitio Magsaysay were discovered in Barangay Suba, an equally populated area along the coasts of southern Cebu City. Barangay Suba has one previously confirmed case.

The other new cases are reported in Sitio Calumpang, Barangay Inayawan (with 3); and 1 each in Sitio Pa-ilob in Barangay Sambag 2, and the Cebu City Jail.

Cebu City now accounts for 90.6 percent of Central Visayas’ total number of COVID-19 cases, and its trend for the past five days has steadily increased./dbs