ILOILO City – The last few days saw the Department of Health (DOH) in Western Visayas recording more cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infections in its headquarters in Mandurriao district.
“Almost all of our units are affected as contact tracing continues. Most of us are on home quarantine or have to work from home,” said Dr. Mary Jane Juanico, head of the agency’s infectious disease cluster.
From 12 last week, the total number of infected DOH-6 employees rose to 19.
Some the agency’s vaccination programs, according to Juanico, were suspended since most of the infected personnel belonged to technical units.
“Ang Measles Rubella-Oral Polio Vaccine Supplemental Immunization campaign ang naantala kay supposedly magwa na amon monitoring team. Nag-stop lang anay amon activities,” Juanico said.
Two of the new confirmed COVID-19 cases were detected yesterday. Two others were recorded on Jan. 10 and three more cases on Jan. 11.
Most of these cases experienced symptoms. Three of them were admitted in a hospital while the rest were either on home or facility quarantine, according to Juanico, also the designated spokesperson of DOH-6.
While not providing a breakdown, Juanico disclosed that some infected employees were residents of the city and others were from the Iloilo towns of Alimodian, Pavia, Santa Barbara, and Oton.
DOH-6’s contact tracing teams tracked at least 170 first and second generation close contacts – so far, 55 of whom tested negative for the viral illness.
She added that only a portion of the regional office is functioning for unaffected employees because of this development.
A series of disinfection at the regional office’s building was also undertaken.
The first batch of infected workers included 10 employees from DOH-6’s Regional Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit (RESU).
They were in charge of handling the coordination and data gathering for COVID-19 cases in areas comprising the Western Visayas region.
The other two were from the engineering and health promotions offices.
It was also determined that the first case was a RESU employee, who tested positive for COVID-19 last Jan. 7./PN
