Some hospitals in Cebu City are running at "overcapacity" following a spike in cases of the novel coronavirus disease that placed the urban center back under the strictest lockdown level, a health expert said Friday.

At the Cebu City Medical Center, the emergency room that can only accommodate 15 patients catered to 50 at one point and had to place tents outside, said Dr. Evelyn Alesna, former president of the Philippine Society for Microbiology and Infectious Diseases-Cebu chapter.

Alesna, who is affiliated with several private hospitals, said she recently had to check on 40 patients a day, while one colleague tended to nearly 60 patients.

The reporting of COVID-19 cases in the city, which recently breached the 4,000-mark, is "not real-time," she added.

• Cebu City may be next virus 'hotspot,' says task force adviser

Hospitals are operating "not [at] full capacity — [but] over their capacity," said Alesna.

"You see dead people waiting to be accommodated at funeral homes," she said.

The contagion spread in Cebu City due to outbreaks in densely populated areas like illegal settlements and jails, as well as large gatherings that did not promote the wearing of masks, like market trips and the distribution of relief goods, she said.

Watch Alesna's interview here.

• Cimatu can tap military for Cebu's pandemic quarantine: Palace
• 'COVID-19 a health crisis, why are military tanks out?' - Robredo

ANC, June 26, 2020