Parañaque mayor sees ‘extended’ battle vs coronavirus

MANILA, Philippines — Parañaque Mayor Edwin Olivarez has ordered the city health office “to triple their actions” in conducting mass testing and contact tracing following a surge in the number of new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases in the past two weeks.

Olivarez particularly directed city health officer Dr. Olga Virtusio to create a special task force to administer “long-term” actions against COVID-19 and to form a new team that would focus on widespread testing, contact tracing and placing in isolation suspect, probable or confirmed cases.

He said the city’s battle against COVID-19 was “expected to be extended indefinitely, maybe one to two years more.”

In order to flatten the curve, the city government should prioritize the expansion of the capacity of its health-care system and increase its testing capacity.

“The primary goal of [our] response is to reduce [coronavirus]-related deaths as well as non-COVID-19 deaths,” Olivarez stressed, noting that the strategy of the city government should be aligned with the national government plan to prevent, detect, isolate and treat COVID-19 patients.

Current system

At present, city health personnel and barangay health emergency response teams are tasked to trace and monitor individuals with COVID-19.

As of Sunday, the city government had conducted a total of 13,121 rapid antibody tests, of which 12,702 turned out to be negative.

Another 6,346 residents were tested by the Philippine Red Cross or the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine.

From June 1, when the national government shifted Metro Manila to the more relaxed general community quarantine, confirmed COVID-19 cases in Parañaque City jumped by 9.51 percent to 827, with 50 fatalities and 547 recoveries.

Of the 72 new confirmed cases, 21 were from Barangay San Dionisio which, as of June 14, had 132 confirmed cases, the highest among the 16 villages in the city.