No community transmission in Eastern Visayas — DoH
The patient, who is a son of another COVID-19 patient, was allegedly infected by the father
PALO, Leyte — The Department of Health (DoH) regional office has clarified that there’s no community transmission of coronavirus in Eastern Visayas contrary to claims of a Leyte town mayor.
DoH assistant regional director Exuperia Sabalberino, in an online press conference, said the only community transmission on COVID-19 that happened in the region was two months ago in Tarangnan, Samar that has been controlled.
She clarified that the virus transmission that happened in Palo, Leyte is a locally acquired transmission similar to what happened in some towns and cities in the region, but not a community transmission.
“This means that we were able to identify the source of the infection,” she said.
Sabalberino said a transmission of a virus can only be considered a community transmission if there are already many cases in a particular place that one can no longer identify and trace the source of infection.
“A community transmission is time bound. If there are no new cases within the 14-days incubation period then we can say that a community transmission is already controlled,” she said.
On Monday, Palo, Leyte Mayor Frances Ann Petilla posted in her Facebook account that a community transmission of COVID-19 is happening in her town after one patient with no travel history was tested positive for the virus.
The patient, who is a son of another COVID-19 patient, was allegedly infected by the father.
Dr. Ludina Insigne, surveillance medical officer at DoH regional office, agrees that the case in Palo is a mere local transmission since they were able to identify the source of infection during contact tracing.
“One reason why we are very strict in implementing the 14-days quarantine for close contacts of COVID-19 patient and the new arrivals in the region is because we want to avoid a community transmission from happening,” Sabalberino said.
“When we already have areas with community transmission, our health care system may not be able to deal with it. That is why we admire the efforts of the different local government units in the region in strictly monitoring the arrival and quarantining these locally stranded individuals,” she said.
As of Thursday noon, Eastern Visayas has a total of 1,083 after 47 new cases were added Wednesday evening. From among these cases, 743 or 68.61 percent have recovered and three deaths leaving only 337 active cases.