24 DOH-Western Visayas personnel test positive for COVID-19

ILOILO CITY –– The Western Visayas office of the Department of Health (DOH) has been affected by a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, prompting some services and activities to be conducted online.

The number of personnel with the disease reached 24 as of Wednesday as two more cases were confirmed, Dr. Jane Juanico, head of the Infectious Disease Section of the DOH regional office, told the INQUIRER in a telephone interview on Thursday.

Juanico said that of the 24 cases, eight were admitted in hospitals, while 16 were in isolation at home or government facilities.

All of the infected personnel are symptomatic.

The first case was confirmed on Jan. 5, with other cases confirmed in succeeding days.

All except one of the infected personnel were detailed at the DOH’s regional office in Mandurriao District in Iloilo City.

Contact-tracing is being conducted on personnel to identify those who may have close contact or exposure with the infected employees.

Juanico said services, including training, monitoring, and meetings, were being conducted online as employees of units that had confirmed cases were working from home.

She said employees, who had no contact with the infected personnel, continued to work.

The DOH in Western Visayas has a total of 285 personnel in its regional office.

The number of COVID-19 cases in the region reached 22,089 as of Jan. 13.

These include 699 active cases, 20,700 recoveries, and 684 deaths.

The most number of cases was reported in Negros Occidental with 6,496, followed by Bacolod City (5,642), Iloilo City (4,749), Iloilo province (3,135), Capiz (1,221), Aklan (496), Guimaras (252), and Antique (98).

LZB