ILOILO City – SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), breached the headquarters of the Department of Health (DOH) in Western Visayas.
Twelve employees were found infected with the viral illness over the weekend.
“Initially, we have three [COVID-19] cases and in the initial result of the first phase of contact tracing, another nine turned positive,” said Dr. Mary Jane Juanico, head of DOH-6’s infectious disease cluster.
Of the confirmed COVID-19 cases, one each came from the engineering unit and health and promotion office and 10 from the regional epidemiology and surveillance unit (RESU).
However, Juanico said they still have no “concrete findings” as to how the employees contracted the disease. They have just returned to work after the holidays, she added.
All of the 12 employees experienced mild symptoms. One was hospitalized, two were in quarantine facilities and the rest were on strict home quarantine.
Contact tracing is still ongoing in coordination with Barangay Health Emergency and Response Teams.
The index case tested positive Thursday last week.
All identified close contacts in the workplace, according to Juanico, were immediately notified and placed under quarantine.
Since 10 of those positive were from the RESU, the agency came up with plans to make sure their operations won’t be hampered.
“Our employees will work from home status. Our initially affected employees were from the critical unit of our surveillance section. Designated persons have been identified, especially those general contacts and second and third level contacts, to be stationed at our regional office,” said Juanico.
DOH-6 had since rolled out disinfection and decontamination of its building in Mandurriao district Saturday morning.
The last confirmed COVID-19 case of the DOH-6 was three months ago. The patient completely recovered from the viral disease and had since returned to work./PN
