MANILA, Philippines — The Quezon City government has expressed grave concern over the health and safety of its medical workers as the novel coronavirus disease continues to pose a threat to the population.
Dr. Rolly Cruz, head of the city’s epidemiology and surveillance unit, said in a press briefing Wednesday that the number of Quezon City residents confirmed with COVID-19 has already reached 29, while 54 were under investigation.
On Tuesday alone, the local government recorded 22 persons infected with COVID-19. As of this posting, the Philippines’ COVID-19 cases climbed to 202, including 17 deaths and seven recoveries.
While it is already concerning, he said they are also worried over the fact that healthcare workers are also being diagnosed with the disease.
“In our last count, we have four medical doctors (with confirmed cases) and only one has a history of travel. The rest have exposure to a confirmed case,” he said.
As a precautionary measure, Cruz said they have planned to limit access near hospitals in the city like St. Luke’s Medical Center on E. Rodriguez Avenue, by closing the roads close to it.
“We are extremely worried because we have a lot of health workers working in these hospitals and then later going home to their communities and probably they are exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19,” he said.
Cruz said they currently have three contact tracing teams going around the city as part of their enhanced disease surveillance.
Upon analysis of the data of confirmed cases of Quezon City, he said only 18 percent have a history of travel and most of the cases either had close exposure to a confirmed case or visited a facility with confirmed cases.
“We are discouraging people to actually, if they have no business in these hospitals, to not go there so the hospitals won’t be burdened,” Cruz said.
Meanwhile, 14 percent have no actual known exposure while 35 percent of the cases were tested because of severe pneumonia.
“It is an indication that most of our cases are local transmission and there is probably evidence of community transmission,” Cruz said.