Region 6 remains free of new COVID variants, DOH-6 says

By Joseph B.A. Marzan

 

The Department of Health-Western Visayas Center for Health Development (DOH-WV CHD) on Monday confirmed that the region remains free of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) variants.

This was according to Dr. Mary Jane Juanico, Infectious Diseases Cluster Head in an episode of DOH-WV CHD’s online series Isyung Bakuna.

Juanico confirmed that the region’s 16 molecular COVID-19 laboratories have capabilities to study specimens and send them to the Philippine Genome Center (PGC) in Diliman, Quezon City for validation.

Juanico confirmed that as of the morning of April 19, the labs have not reported the presence of new COVID-19 variants in the region.

These include variants from the United Kingdom, South Africa, and Brazil, which she said had been detected in Metro Manila from returning overseas Filipinos.

In their latest case bulletin, the DOH-WV CHD listed 195 new COVID-19 cases on April 19, with Negros Occidental logging 113 cases, followed by Iloilo province with 35, Bacolod City with 23, Aklan with 9, Antique with 6, and Iloilo City with 5, Capiz and Guimaras reporting zero new cases.

The region also confirmed 11 new deaths, bringing the region’s total mortality toll to 840.

Juanico noted that cases continue to rise at a faster rate and may still peak until mid to third week of April with Negros Occidental under High Risk and Antique, Capiz, Iloilo City, Bacolod City under Moderate Risk, due to the number of cases reported in these areas in the last week.

She added that as of April 18, 87 percent of the region’s total cases are local cases, noting an increasing trend of symptomatic cases as well as asymptomatic cases which are outputs of contact tracing, with a case-to-close-contact ratio of 1 case to 3 close contacts.

In the previous weeks, total cases have tripled daily reported cases with a daily average of 257 cases per day as of April 18.

Based on the DOH-WV CHD’s data, the current average triples that of the case average from March 2021 which was at 84 cases per day, and the previous peak in September 2021 which was at 194 cases per day.

Juanico said Aklan, Antique, Capiz, and Guimaras have surpassed their peak of cases compared to last year, and Capiz has more symptomatic severe and critical cases recently.

Iloilo province and Negros Occidental still sustain a high number of symptomatic cases, mainly attributed to contact tracing, while Bacolod City is on track of surpassing its peak last year.

Juanico said that “if without intervention in place, these cases might also increase like in 2020,” emphasizing that only Iloilo City has maintained a number of cases in the minimum level.

The region’s case fatality rate (CFR) or the rate of deaths from COVID-19 cases also started to go down, citing 829 deaths or a 2.58 percent CFR as of April 18.

Areas with CFR higher than regional average include Iloilo province, Iloilo City, Capiz, Bacolod City. Only Antique’s CFR remained low despite a high number of new cases in the past days.

“There are times that there are many deaths reported in a certain given day, but when we go back to the history of their symptoms, cases are spread in many areas,” Juanico said.

The Healthcare Utilization Rate, which refers to the number of available beds in different COVID wards, isolation beds, Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds has also risen to 43.89 percent, from 36.27 percent as of April 11.

As to the latest risk classifications based on the two-week Average Daily Attack Rate (ADAR) and 2-Week Growth Rate (2WGR), Juanico said that Western Visayas is still under Moderate Risk.

But Negros Occidental is still at high risk as of April 18, with its ADAR increasing from 1.45 to 5.26 cases per 100,000 population.

Juanico said that Bacolod City, Iloilo City, Capiz, and Antique remained at Moderate Risk with their DARs also rising, while Aklan, Guimaras, and Iloilo province remaining at Low Risk.

While there are still no recommendations as to changes in community quarantine status in all areas, Juanico said that the DOH-WV CHD recommended the following measures:

– localized lockdowns, with the lowest units to be put on lockdowns or critical zones;

– improving contact tracing efficiency, find and look for symptomatic individuals to isolate them within 24 hours of symptom onset;

– maximizing availability of community or facility quarantine to minimize cases and reduce close contacts within households;

– referring immediately cases with comorbidities or moderate, severe or critical diseases to hospitals; and

– augment disease surveillance and contact tracing staff and active case findings.

DOH-WV CHD data as of April 19 indicated Negros Occidental with the greatest number of COVID-19 cases in the region with 9,716 cases.

They are followed by Bacolod City (6,779), Iloilo City (5,974), Iloilo province (5,770), Capiz (1,526), Aklan (1,417), Antique (784), and Guimaras (382).