MANILA, Philippines – Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr on Thursday night, June 18, offered his apologies to the United Kingdom following the death of a British man who waited hours to be treated at a hospital in Cebu City. 

Locsin said the British man named “Barry” died on Wednesday, June 17, from cardiac arrest after waiting in an ambulance for 8 hours outside the Chong Hua-Fuente hospital. He added the man had initially been turned away by the Chong Hua-Mandaue hospital before going to the Chong Hua-Fuente hospital. 

“He never complained; got cardiac arrest; doctors didn’t help. He died. Shame. Abject apologies to UK,” Locsin tweeted Thursday night.  

Coronavirus cases have risen sharply in Cebu City, which has been placed under lockdown or an enhanced community quarantine – the strictest level of community quarantine in the country.  

On Thursday, majority of the new cases (299 of 562) reported in the Philippines came from Central Visayas, which includes Cebu City. The rise in case has led to reports of hospitals turning away patients due to the near-full utilization of critical care facilities.  

Experts earlier found Cebu City had a reproduction number of 2 as of June 11 – a figure that means the pandemic was still spreading in the area. Experts earlier noted the goal for areas is to bring their reproduction number down to below 1 in order to say the outbreak has been managed.

The rise in new cases have led to Cebu province becoming the country’s “second major battleground“ in the pandemic, according to experts keeping watch of the numbers. If current trends continue, experts projected the province may see 11,000 cases by June 30.

The Philippines counted 27,799 confirmed coronavirus cases on Thursday, including 1,116 deaths and 7,090 recoveries. – Rappler.com