ILOILO City – Western Visayas has an ongoing “low-level” community transmission of coronavirus disease 2019, according to the Department of Health (DOH) Region 6.
Dr. Glenn Alonsabe, epidemiologist of the DOH-6, cited the influx of repatriated locally stranded individuals from other provinces and cities.
However, Alonsabe clarified that not all areas of the region has a community spread, saying those affected were only clustered areas or towns.
“Unlike areas in Cebu and Metro Manila, diri (Region 6) may mga isolated lang gid kita nga cases, gamay-gamay nga mga clustered nga natabo sa aton,” Alonsabe said.
But the DOH-6 official urged the public not to be complacent.
“I-maintain lang gihapon naton ang panugyan even if under kita sa modified general community quarantine, patihon lang naton,” Alonsabe reiterated.
In a related development, Dr. Ellamae Divinagracia, Infectious Disease Specialist and spokesperson of St. Paul’s Hospital (SPHI) of Iloilo, told Panay News they also considered the hospital’s 11 infected personnel as a case of “low-level” community transmission.
She revealed that the hospital’s two index cases, or the suspected source of infection (from Capiz and Guimaras), both yielded negative results in reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction testing.
Divinagracia asserted that the source of infection at the SPHI could be a COVID-19-positive person from the community.
“It could also be our doctors or health personnel who contracted the illness outside the hospital and were later detected through mass testing,” she said.
Divinagracia added: “We are anticipating other positive or confirmed cases because we just completed hospital-wide testing for all patients and personnel during the lockdown.”
This also prompted the SPHI management to resume operation on July 13.
“To ensure the safety of our patients, doctors, health workers, and the community, the hospital will resume its operation on July 13,” Divinagracia said./PN
