Quarantine, lockdown enforcement cited among factors
TACLOBAN CITY- The number of recoveries from coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continued to increase in Eastern Visayas, with 12 recoveries as of Friday,(July 10),bringing the total number of recovered cases to 498 or 81.11% while the total number of confirmed cases now at 614.
In Tacloban City alone, the City Health Office reported that it has already discharged its remaining COVID-19 active case on Wednesday afternoon.
The city had 58 COVID-19 cases.
The region has three fatalities due to COVID-19 coming from the towns of Tarangan, Samar; Kananga, Leyte; and Kawayan in Biliran.
Dr. Minerva Molon, regional director of Department of Health (DOH), said 98 health workers who recovered from the coronavirus are already back to their work.
The Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center (EVRMC) has only one remaining healthcare worker confirmed with COVID-19, according to Molon.
“The patient is asymptomatic and still isolated. We still have health workers assigned in the field who have been tested with COVID-19 who are asymptomatic and still isolated. All DOH employees confirmed with Covid-19 have already recovered,” Molon said during a virtual presser on Thursday (July 9).
She added that the region was able to control the community transmission of COVID-19.
“This can be attributed to the coordinated efforts of all sectors of the community especially the Regional Inter-Agency Task Force and Regional Task Force. The early implementation of lockdown and the immediate isolation/quarantine of returning residents have greatly reduced the transmission of the infections,” Molon said.
The health official also urged the local government units with locally acquired cases to “intensify contact tracing to prevent further community transmission.”
“Municipalities like Tarangnan (Samar), La Paz, Burauen, and Hilongos, Leyte have no recorded local cases and the previous declaration of having a local transmission can now be lifted,” Molon said.
“For a province, municipality, or city to declare their area as ‘COVID-19 free’, one must have no recorded new Covid-19 cases for the past two incubation period or 28 days,” she added.
The DOH counts 14-days for the incubation period of the virus.
Meantime, the so-called locally stranded individuals (LSIs) continue to log the most number infected with the virus.
Out of the current 614 COVID-19 cases of the region, 397 of them are LSIs while the rest were locally acquired (160); returning overseas workers (52); and beneficiaries of the Balik Probinsiya program, 3.
BY: RONALD O. REYES/LIZBETH ANN A. ABELLA
