SUNSTAR Cebu and The Freeman, Cebu's two English-language newspapers, both received letters from lawyer Frank Dinsay, Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn "Gwen" Garcia's chief of staff, questioning the data used in some articles about the Covid situation in Cebu. The journalists were advised to use the data provided by the provincial government as it is supposedly more accurate and up-to-date compared to the Department of Health's (DoH) data on which the articles were based.

DoH data on confirmed, active, recovered cases and deaths are contained in daily bulletins posted in the DoH Central Visayas' Facebook page. The DoH-Region 7 (Central Visayas) Covid-19 tracker, on the other hand, provides breakdown by province, towns and cities within the provinces, and for the highly urbanized cities, broken down per barangay (village). The Covid related deaths reported by the local government units (LGUs) to the DoH, once validated, are posted according to the date when the death occurred. While data on deaths are thus, delayed, they constitute the most consistent data on Covid-19-related deaths in Central Visayas.

Premium + Digital Edition

Ad-free access


P 80 per month
(billed annually at P 960)
  • Unlimited ad-free access to website articles
  • Limited offer: Subscribe today and get digital edition access for free (accessible with up to 3 devices)

TRY FREE FOR 14 DAYS
See details
See details