The number of Covid-19 cases in the Cordillera is nearing the 1,000 mark although the region has registered a high recovery rate, according to the data released by the Department of Health.
DOH-Cordillera reported that as of Sept. 10,the region has 905 confirmed cases of which 118 are active cases (22 are new cases), 774 have recovered (five are recent recoveries), and 13 recorded deaths.
The latest fatality is a 66-year-old female from Baguio City.
The active cases are three each from Abra and Mountain Province, 74 from Baguio City, 21 from Benguet, four from Ifugao, and 13 from Kalinga. There was no new confirmed case in Apayao.
DOH-Cordillera Director Ruby Constantino said the region is no longer in the top 10 regions with highest number of Covid-cases and now ranks 13th among the 17 regions in the country.
As of Sept. 9, the region has 85.96 percent in terms of patients recovering from the virus, and also has greater percentages of asymptomatic and mildly symptomatic cases.
Most of those who got infected are the authorized persons outside of residence, healthcare workers, uniformed personnel, and those providing essential services like security guards, grocery and bank personnel.
The region has experienced the peak of cases during the second week of August, which Karen Lonogan of DOH Regional Epidemiological Services Unit attributed to the clusters of cases particularly in Baguio and Kalinga.
Constantino said the region’s hospitals still have sufficient bed capacities but local government units need to establish more temporary treatment and monitoring facilities (TTMF) or community isolation facilities that may accommodate cases with no symptoms and/or mildly symptomatic. This will allow hospitals and healthcare facilities to handle serious cases and not to exhaust their capacity.
The health official has reminded mildly symptomatic and asymptomatic cases must strictly undergo isolation in designated community isolation units to prevent possible spread of the virus in a certain community.
She said health authorities are also currently discussing whether to disallow home quarantine due to reported transmission among family members of patients.
The DOH director added that home quarantine should be implemented under strict monitoring. Since contact between the person under quarantine with family members cannot be avoided, there can still be virus transmission.
Once confirmed positive of the disease, the patient should be quarantined in a TTMF.
Lonogan, for her part, has confirmed that clusters of cases due to home quarantine have been recorded in the city such as in Irisan and Lourdes Subdivision.
Constantino has reminded the public it is not enough knowing the minimum health standards; they should make it practice to avoid being infected. – Hanna C. Lacsamana
April 16, 2024
