TWO elderly persons in Cebu City have died from the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), bringing the death toll in Central Visayas region to four as of Saturday, March 28.

The Department of Health (DOH) regional office in Central Visayas confirmed this with the release of a list that showed a total of 22 confirmed cases in the region as of March 27, 2020.

Of the 22, four had died, one has recovered and returned to China, and 17 remained admitted as of Saturday, including a 68-year-old male in critical care.

One patient, a 66-year-old female from Cebu City, died Friday, March 27. Another mortality from Cebu City, a 65-year-old male, died on March 23.

Two other mortalities were the 64-year-old municipal councilor in Negros Oriental, who died on March 15, and his sister-in-law, 61, who succumbed to the disease on March 23.

All 17 who are under palliative care in various hospitals are from Cebu - 14 from Cebu City, 1 from Cebu province, 1 from Mandaue City and 1 from Lapu-Lapu City.

Ten are aged 60 and above while six are between 40 and 59 years old. The youngest is a 27-year-old female from Cebu province while the oldest patients are 72, a male and a female.

Of the 17, nine are male while eight are female.

The DOH said three cases were confirmed by the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) while 19 were confirmed by the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC).

These were among 229 specimens processed by the VSMMC, which has been designated as a subnational laboratory by the RITM.

Covid-19 is a respiratory disease caused by the highly infectious novel coronavirus, officially known as Sars-CoV-2.

Nationwide, the disease has killed 54 people as of March 27. Total number of cases has gone up to 803. Thirty-one have recovered.

Globally, the World Health Organization said the infection has killed 23,335 individuals as of March 27. A total of 509,164 confirmed cases have been reported. (From a report by WBS)