Philippine Canadian Inquirer (National)
DOH exec says Covid-19 not airborne
MANILA — The coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) is not airborne and is transmitted through droplets and close contact, an official of the Department of Health (DOH) stressed Wednesday.
“Regarding the World Health Organization ( WHO) statement on possible airborne transmission, what is said there is it’s airborne if it’s in a confined hospital setting,” DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said during the Laging Handa press conference.
Since Covid-19 experts still say that the disease is transmitted through close contact, Vergeire reiterated the importance of social distancing measures.
“The WHO and epidemiologists in our country made a modeling estimate that 75,000 cases in the span of three months ay aabutin natin kung hindi tayo maglalagay ng (will be reached if we don’t place) interventions,” Vergeire said.
She added the reproductive rate of the virus shows that one person can transmit it to two persons in one sitting based on the age group to which most of the confirmed Covid-19 cases belong.
“It can reach that peak but we can flatten this curve, so that means we can spread the 75,000 cases to many months, only if we can implement measures like social distancing strictly,” she said.
No treatment yet
While recovered cases have been reported in the past days, Vergeire clarified that there is no known cure to Covid-19 yet.
“On the recovered cases, they were only provided at the different facilities where they were admitted supportive treatment for whatever symptoms they experienced at the time they were admitted,” she said.
Vergeire added they have observed that the recovered patients “started off with mild symptoms and that they don’t have underlying conditions.” ■