Ten more cases of novel coronavirus disease-2019 were confirmed by the Department of Health yesterday afternoon, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 20.
The doubling of the total confirmed cases in the country was reported within a day after an “intensified surveillance effort” made by the Health agency, Health Assistant Secretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a press briefing.
The profile of the 10 new cases has yet to be disclosed as the department is currently completing all information of the patients, the Health official added.
“All test results from the new cases were released today (Monday) after samples were collected on March 6, 7, and 8. The Epidemiology Bureau is currently conducting comprehensive contact tracing for these cases.”
While confirmed cases in the country doubled within a day, the DoH said they could not declare a community transmission but is not dismissing its possibility.
“Hindi pa tayo nagko-consider na may community transmission. Unang-una kailagan natin ng kumpletong impormasyon para masabi natin kung tayo may community transmission,” Vergeire said.
The Health official underscored that the main determinant to declare that there is a community transmission “is when cases are not linked to each other.”
“Kaya nga inaalam natin lahat itong mga kaso ngayon para makita natin kung may linkages between or among these positive cases that we have,” Vergeire said.
“Once we find and analyze the information, once we see that there is even a single case with no link to these 20 cases, then we can already – this will trigger the declaration of sustained community transmission,” she added.
A “sustained community transmission,” she said, will also trigger the raising of Code Red Sublevel 1 Alert to 2, which can result to a lockdown of a certain place.
The Health official said that while the country is now in a stage where a local transmission is recorded on Patient No. 5 with no travel history, the Philippines is “transitioning into having home quarantine for individuals, especially with mild cases, to avoid a huge a number of patients in quarantine facilities.”
The DoH also ensured that the country has enough existing facilities for isolation of patients. Contact tracing on the new cases have been launched after the new cases were confirmed at lunchtime yesterday.
Vergeire said that Patient No. 4 is now in stable condition. Patient No. 5 is now in “stable but guarded” condition while Patient No. 6 is also in stable condition. It was also bared that all four cases reported Sunday “are stable and admitted at different hospitals.”
As of 12 p.m. yesterday, the Health department has identified 468 contacts of Patients 4 to 10, of which 113 have been assessed — 107 interviewed contacts have been placed under home quarantine while six has been categorized as patients under investigation and placed under isolation in various facilities.
The DoH urged all individuals contacted by surveillance teams to fully cooperate in the investigation and contact tracing activities. (Betheena Unite)
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