‘IMPORTED CASES RISING’: Region 6 posts record-breaking spike in infections in a day

By Emme Rose Santiagudo

 

Western Visayas recorded another record-breaking spike in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infections on Wednesday with 25 new cases.

In its Case Bulletin No. 90, Department of Health-Center for Health Development (DOH-CHD) 6 reported that the new cases include 21 cases from Negros Occidental, 3 from Iloilo City, and 1 from Bacolod City.

The new cases from Negros Occidental are:

-a 35-year old male from La Carlota City (WV Patient No. 204);

-a 56-year old female from San Carlos City (WV Patient No. 205);

-a 26-year old male from Sagay City (WV Patient No. 206) ;

-a 27-year old male from San Carlos City (WV Patient No. 207) ;

-a 23-year-old male from Escalante City (WV Patient No. 208);

-a 46- year-old male from Calatrava (WV Patient No. 209);

-a 42-year-old male from Calatrava (WV Patient No. 210);

-a 18-year-old female from Calatrava; (WV Patient No. 211);

-a 24-year-old male from Escalante City (WV Patient No. 212) ;

-a 26-year-old male from Escalante City (WV Patient No. 213);

-a 34- year-old male from La Carlota City (WV Patient No. 214);

-a 48-year-old male from Murcia (WV Patient No. 215);

-a 43-year-old male from Murcia (WV Patient No. 216);

-a 46-year-old male from Ilog (WV Patient No. 217);

-a 47-year-old male from Calatrava (WV Patient No. 218);

-a 20-year-old male from Escalante City (WV Patient No. 219);

-a 70-year-old male from Toboso (WV Patient No. 220);

-a 55-year-old male from Moises Padilla (WV Patient No. 221);

-a 22-year-old male from Himamaylan (WV Patient No. 222);

-a 23-year-old male from Cauayan (WV Patient No. 223); and

-a 24-year-old female from Binabalgan (WV Patient No. 224).

Iloilo City has three new cases – a 61-year-old female from City Proper district (WV Patient No. 225); a 22-year-old-male from City Proper district (WV Patient No. 226); and a 40-year-old male from La Paz district (WV Patient No. 227).

According to Dr. Ma. Sophia Pulmones, head of the Local Health Support Division of DOH-CHD 6, all 25 new cases are all locally stranded individuals, mostly from Cebu.

Pulmones said only WV Patient Nos. 205 and 213 manifested symptoms of influenza like illness (ILI).

“Except for the two symptomatic cases, all the other new cases are asymptomatic and under facility quarantine. We are still validating, updating, or going through the case classification forms of the positive cases,” she said.

This is the highest single-day spike in COVID-19 cases in the region so far, bringing the total cases in Western Visayas to 228.

 

HIGHEST SURGE

Dr. Ma. Julia Villanueva, assistant regional director of DOH-CHD 6, noted that this week also posted the highest increase in COVID-19 infections since March 2020.

From Saturday until Tuesday, Region 6 posted 64 new cases – 25 on Wednesday; 15 on Monday; 13 on Saturday; 6 on Tuesday; and 5 on Sunday.

“Amo na ni ang pinakataas, kon lantawon sa graph – mostly repatriates gid kay wala naman ta local/indigenous cases,” she said.

Despite the influx of locally stranded individuals and Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), Villanueva said the repatriation cannot be halted as it is mandated by the national government.

As imported cases in the region continue to rise, the health department reminded repatriates especially LSIs, to be responsible and follow quarantine protocols like the strict observance of the 14-day quarantine to prevent the spread of Covid-19 in Western Visayas.

“Gadamo na gid ang confirmed cases naton nga mga locally stranded invididuals and mga repatriates so i-reiterate ko lang ang pahanumdom naton sa mga locally stranded individuals and returning Overseas Filipino Worker (OFWs), be responsible in ensuring nga ginafollow nila ang aton nga quarantine protocols para ma-prevent naton ang spread of infection and also iprotect man nila ang ila mismo self and family,” Villanueva stressed.

DOH-CHD 6 reiterated that LSIs should undergo strict 14-day home quarantine once they arrive.

“They should have undergone 14-day quarantine from their point of origin. Once they arrive at their point of destination, they can go home and observe additional 14-day home quarantine,” Pulmones said.

According to Pulmones, local government units (LGUs) must require LSIs to real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) testing.

After the swabbing, the LSIs must be in home quarantine while waiting for their confirmatory results.

Of the 228 COVID-19 cases in Region 6, more than half, or 145, were repatriates.

As of Wednesday, the 228 cases included 96 active cases, 121 recoveries, and 11 deaths.

 

POWER REQUIREMENT

Meanwhile, the Western Visayas Medical Center-Sub National Laboratory (WVMC-SNL) in Mandurriao, Iloilo City is working with power distributor MORE Electric and Power Corp for the installation of a separate power transformer to ensure smooth COVID-19 testing.

This, as the brownout that hit Mandurriao district affected the operations of the laboratory, according to Dr. Stephanie Abello chief pathologist of WVMC-SNL.

Abello said the outage slowed down the processing of swabs in the laboratory, from 1,000 test results to 400.

“Naka-schedule na kami what to do para maka-perform kami tani 1,000 tests but nag-brownout siya. Nag-start 10 pm, nagsiga siya around 8 in the morning so nag-manual extraction, we cannot utilize our automated analyzers because of that kay indi kadala amon generator so ang napagwa namon sang Sunday 400 na lang,” she said in an interview on Wednesday.

According to Abello, their generator sets in the laboratory cannot fully power high-level machines in the laboratory.

“Every time may power interruption naga-slow down gid man kami sang operation kay maskin ang biosafety cabinet nga na indi namon magamit kon brownout kay delikado siya kay kinahanglan gid stable and continuous power supply,” she said.

MORE Power said it received reports of a loose connection along the primary wire traversing Q. Abeto Street in Mandurriao district leading to trip-offs in Mandurriao Feeder.

Power restorations efforts were done but successive trip-offs persisted in the area. Electricity supply was fully restored at 8:49 a.m. Sunday.

According to MORE Power, they are still investigating the possible reasons of the three major faults and loose connections in various points within Feeder 4 network of the Mandurriao substation which caused the unscheduled brown-out in the area.

Abello said they already requested for an evaluation by MORE Power on the possibility of putting up a separate transformer for the WVMC-SNL.

“We requested evaluation kon pwede kami matakdan sang separate transformer so that kon mag-overload man ya ang transformer sa iban nga establishments surrounding us, indi kami ya apektado. May initial meetings na and ma-process na lang kami mga documents and clearance from our finance (office),” she said.

WVMC-SNL was the first accredited COVID-19 testing laboratory of the health department in Western Visayas. It is also the sole testing laboratory in Panay Island.

As of June 21, it has tested 23,468 individuals for COVID-19.