Why new infections in Iloilo City are declining

By Joseph B.A. Marzan

The current downtrend in new coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases in Iloilo City in the past days was due to the strict implementation of the Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine (MECQ) and its contact tracing program, according to the City Hall on Monday.

The city logged 39 new cases on Oct. 3, according to the City Epidemiological Surveillance Unit (CESU).

This was the lowest number of new cases logged in more than four months after the CESU recorded an average of more than 50 cases per day since May 2021.

Oct. 1 to 3 saw 198 new COVID cases with an average of 66 new cases per day, lower by 57.96 percent than in the first three days of September, which posted 472 new cases and a daily average of 157.

The daily average for September 2021 was 135 with a total of 4,061 new cases recorded, even as new cases began to taper in the last two weeks of the past month.

Data from the Department of Health-Western Visayas Center for Health Development (DOH-WV CHD) as of Oct. 3 showed that Iloilo City is now fourth among eight local government units in the region in terms of the new cases logged this month so far.

In an online press briefing on Monday, the city’s COVID-19 focal person Dr. Roland Jay Fortuna said the MECQ and ECQ implementations from May to September were critical in the decline in cases.

Fortuna said swift contact tracing, isolation of identified and voluntary close contacts, and increased vaccination efforts, also helped curb increases and prevent further surges.

He also mentioned the consistent testing of cases and close contacts, citing that the Uswag Molecular Laboratory in Molo district tests 500-1,000 sample specimens daily.

“We were stricter in the implementation of our health protocols. We were not allowing non-essential gatherings. That’s where we saw our cases declining. Also, in our contact tracing, we were at the highest ratio [in the region] of 1 is to 3, compared to other provinces and highly-urbanized cities,” Fortuna said.

Fortuna also believed that the surge in cases in the first 23 days of September were due to the “more highly-infectious” Delta (B.1.617.2) COVID variant, which they were able to arrest as soon as the cases were detected.

DOH-WV CHD data on COVID variants as of Oct. 3 indicated that 28 Delta cases were identified in the city.

“Although we were able to see many Delta cases before, it is most likely that when they are detected, the transmission rate also goes up and we saw that more Delta cases sprung up, which were able to isolate immediately and test, as well as their close contacts. So, we were able to prevent the further spread of the Delta [variant],” he said.

He said that continued observance of minimum public health standards (wearing of face coverings, physical distancing, and washing of hands) as well as vaccination

“We can sustain this if we keep reminding the public to observe minimum public health standards, especially in social distancing, which has helped greatly. Aside from that, we have to achieve our herd immunity target earlier. If we keep doing that, we can progressively decrease COVID-19 here in Iloilo City,” he stated.