MANILA, Philippines — Disregard of health protocols by some stranded individuals and returning overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) contributed to the increase in coronavirus infections in the Philippines, a World Health Organization (WHO) report has found.
In its 41st Situation Report on the Philippines’ COVID-19 response published Tuesday, WHO stressed that precautionary measures issued by health authorities should be followed, especially after quarantine restrictions have been relaxed in many areas.
“Many new cases reported among repatriated [OFWs] and Locally Stranded Individuals (LSI) [was] due to poor adherence to proper prevention measures during the mandatory quarantine period,” WHO said.
“Department of Health (DOH) [is] emphasizing the need for increased control of proper implementation of guidelines at LGU level […] the importance of adherence to minimum precautionary measures, as one of the recurrent sources of infection among new cases [in] the country,” they added.
Recently, there are reports that some LSIs are carriers of coronavirus – although only confirmed by the time they have reached their home provinces.
According to estimates from research firm Social Weather Stations, almost 4.1 million Filipinos have been stranded, one way or another, during the community quarantine periods.
In Bohol, nine LSIs who returned last June 7 were found to have COVID-19 – including the first case for the province’s Inabanga town.
READ: Driver, stranded persons are latest COVID-19 cases in Negros Occidental
Prior to that, three persons who went back to Isabela were found positive for the novel coronavirus or SARS-CoV-2, which causes respiratory ailment COVID-19.
READ: 3 ‘Balik Probinsya’ returnees test positive for coronavirus in Isabela town
Due to these incidents of infections among LSIs, some local government units (LGUs) have decided to prevent people from entering their cities like in the case of Cebu and Talisay.
READ: Stranded persons barred to enter, leave Cebu and Talisay cities for now
As of Tuesday, the Philippines has one of the highest COVID-19 cases in Southeast Asia, currently at 31,825 with 1,186 patients dead and 8,442 recoveries. Metro Manila – where most of the quarantine facilities for returning OFWs and LSIs are located – remains to have the biggest share of COVID-19 cases at 50.4 percent.
This was followed by Central Visayas (19.4 percent), Calabarzon (7.4 percent), and Central Luzon (2.6 percent).
According to WHO, the Philippines remains to be in the Stage 2 level of transmissions, which means that there are local transmissions although these are confined to a specific geographical area, and not widespread.
Stage 2 is the third level in WHO’s COVID-19 pandemic classification, as the other “stages” are as follows: Stage 0 means there are no cases, Stage 1 means the majority of cases are imported, and Stage 3 means there is no clear link for infection origin.
“The Philippines remains in Stage 2, localized community transmission, with data indicating an increasing trend and likely higher transmission in the NCR and Central Visayas with evidence of cases exported from these two Regions to other areas with lower levels of transmission,” WHO said.