DOH ‘not ruling out’ local transmission in Iloilo City

By Joseph B.A. Marzan

 

Confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases in St. Paul’s Hospital (SPH) in the past week suggested local transmission in Iloilo City, and the Department of Health (DOH) on Monday said that it is not ruling out such possibility.

In a virtual press conference, Jessie Glenn Alonsabe, regional epidemiologist of DOH-Center for Health Development Western Visayas (DOH-CHD-6), said the influx of Locally-Stranded Individuals (LSIs) and previous cases may have led to local spread of the virus.

Alonsabe added that this is also evident in other densely populated areas in the region.

“I think we now have a low level of community transmission in Iloilo City because of the influx of LSIs as well as the previous cases we’ve had. As of now, we cannot discount the fact that a low level of community transmission is ongoing, not only in [Iloilo City] but I think in the whole of the region, because of the concentration of cases in urban areas, most especially in Iloilo City as well as in [areas with] highly-dense population,” Alonsabe said.

Last week, six doctors of SPH contracted COVID-19, with four more cases from the hospital confirmed in the following days.

Alonsabe also said that the DOH is still studying the possibilities that asymptomatic COVID-19 cases are not able to infect others and that the virus may be airborne.

“We will have to wait for the official statement from the [World Health Organization] as well as from the [DOH]. There are still many debates because there is more evidence coming in that there is airborne transmission, but there are also conflicting reports coming in as well,” he said.

The DOH-CHD-6 reported no new confirmed COVID-19 cases on July 6 but reported two new recoveries, WV Patients No. 134 and 156, who are both LSIs from Negros Occidental.

No new deaths were also reported.

A total of 675 test results via Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) were released, all of which yielded negative for COVID-19.

As of July 6, Western Visayas remains to have 389 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 226 active cases, 152 recoveries, and 11 deaths.