ILOILO CITY, Philippines –Six doctors from a hospital in Iloilo City are among the latest coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases in Western Visayas.
Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas in a statement posted on social media on Sunday afternoon said the doctors belong to a hospital. He did not identify the health facility.
“I was informed that six medical doctors from one hospital in Iloilo are positive in the (Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction tests). I have coordinated with the medical director and they are doing all the necessary protocols to ensure the safety of everyone,” he said.
Dr. Sophia Pulmones, head of the Local Health Support Division of the DOH in Western Visayas, said six “health workers” including five from Iloilo City and one from Iloilo province were among the 26 new COVID-19 cases in the region.
“They are all asymptomatic and are currently in facility quarantine,” Pulmones said but declined to identify the hospital.
Aside from the doctors, the new cases involved six overseas Filipino workers and 14 locally stranded individuals who were transported to the region.
The additional cases bring the total COVID-19 cases in the region to 274 including 11 deaths, 155 recoveries, and 138 active cases.
The report of the infection of the Iloilo doctors came two days before the start of the planned deployment of 40 rural doctors from the region to augment medical personnel in Cebu City amid a surge in COVID-19 cases in the area.