TACLOBAN CITY – The Department of Health (DOH) on Thursday urged local government units (LGUs) in Eastern Visayas to strictly enforce quarantine protocols as the national government has set another send-off of returning residents under the Hatid Tulong program this weekend.
DOH Eastern Visayas Director Minerva Molon, in a press statement, said LGUs across the region have been preparing more facilities to accommodate the arrival of locally stranded individuals (LSI) from Metro Manila, starting next week.
These are LSIs excluded in the previous send-off after the region imposed a moratorium on the acceptance of returning residents from June 26 to July 9.
As of July 22, Molon said community isolation units and temporary treatment and monitoring facilities in the region’s six provinces have 15,000 available beds.
“There are also 52 levels one to three hospitals in the region that have already submitted their surge capacity plan in anticipation of more coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) cases in the coming weeks. We have also provided additional training to our 707 teams of contact tracers in the region,” she added.
Based on the DOH monitoring report, the region has confirmed a total of 725 cases – 428 in Leyte, 143 in Samar, 96 in Southern Leyte, 29 in Northern Samar, 26 in Biliran, and three in Eastern Samar.
The health department attributed the region’s surge in infections since the start of June to the testing of returning residents, including repatriated overseas Filipino workers and LSIs, mostly from Metro Manila and Cebu.
Despite the significant increase, Molon said the region has maintained a high recovery rate, as 88.83 percent or 644 of the confirmed infections have already recovered.
“More than 90 percent of our patients are asymptomatic, three are severe cases and these are the region’s three deaths in Leyte, Biliran, and Samar. The three mortalities have underlying medical conditions, such as diabetes and cardiac disease,” she added.
Molon also noted that community transmission has so far been prevented as local government units immediately isolate the returnees upon their arrival.
“With the LGUs enabled by the national government to lead the fight against Covid-19 and with the collective efforts of everyone, we have a high recovery rate. The immediate isolation of confirmed patients and intensified contact tracing of individuals who might have been exposed to the virus are among the effective ways to minimize the transmission of infections,” she added.
To date, the region has 49 active cases housed in isolation and quarantine facilities, the DOH said.
The Hatid Tulong program is a government initiative to provide transportation to those stranded in Metro Manila due to lockdowns and travel restrictions amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
The assistance given to LSIs and returning overseas Filipinos nationwide is also supervised and monitored by the program’s technical working group. (PNA)
