There is already a clustering of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases in the country, an indication of sustained community transmission of the dreaded virus, said the Department of Health (DoH).
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire, in a television interview on Tuesday, said that some of the confirmed cases do not have any links with other cases.
“Nakita natin ‘yung ibang kaso wala na s’yang relasyon sa ibang kaso…Pag ganito na po ang itsura ng ating sitwasyon, ibig sabihin we already have sustained community transmission,” she said.
The health department previously defined sustained community transmission as “increasing number of local cases whose links cannot be established.”
This was also confirmed by Health Secretary Francisco Duque III during a press briefing at the Malacanang Palace on Monday night.
“This means that some cases no longer have a history of travel to COVID-19-affected countries, exposure to a positive COVID-19 case. You can no longer link it to each other,” said Duque.
“In effect, there is already unlinkable clustering of cases or untraceable chains of transmission in the community,” he added.
As of this writing, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the Philippines remains at 142, including 12 deaths. Meanwhile, three patients have already recovered from the dreaded disease.
Duque said that the Philippines currently has a case fatality rate of about eight percent.
“It’s about eight percent over 142. It’s eight percent but it’s only high because we have not done enough testing. We have limited testing capacity especially in the past several weeks,” he said.
“But now, I am confident that with many testing kits arriving. In fact, many have already arrived, we will be able to pick up more positives. The number of deaths will be further diluted by the growing number of positive cases,” said the Health chief.
EXEMPTED FROM
LOCKDOWN
Vergeire said that they are coordinating with the Department of Interior and Local Government, Department of Transportation, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), as well as private groups for the mobility of health workers amid the enhanced community quarantine in Luzon.
“Nag issue kami ng blanket certification or authority para lang po lahat ng hospital workers whether they are medical or non-medical at saka laka po lahat ng health workers from DoH and also local government units should be exempted from this lockdown,” said Vergeire.
“We are trying to contact po ang company or lines ng P2P para po magkaroon tayo ng P2P for our healthcare workers,” she added. (Analou de Vera)
