DOH calls for stricter quarantine classification over Eastern Visayas

TACLOBAN CITY – The regional coronavirus pandemic task force in Eastern Visayas has renewed its call for the National Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Disease (IATF) to approve its recommendation to place the region under a stricter general community quarantine.

”In response to this overwhelming spike of cases in the region, the Department of Health (DOH) and the Regional Task Force against COVID-19 continues its recommendation to the NIATF to escalate the community quarantine classification of Eastern Visayas from modified general community quarantine to general community quarantine,” the DOH said in a statement.

The continued increase in COVID-19 cases in the region was attributed by the DOH due to super spreader events like birthday parties, reunions, and other mass gatherings.

“The fleeting joy and celebration that the public is hopeful about when they meet in social gatherings may cause a dreadful ending for others, especially the vulnerable groups,” the DOH said.

With the surge of cases in the region, the DOH said medical health facilities are now overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients.

At the Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center (EVRMC), 86 out of its 111-bed capacity for COVID-19 patients are now occupied.

Almost all provincial hospitals and private hospitals in the region are also going through the same experience, the DOH said.

With the surge of COVID-19 cases, the DOH also called on hospitals to increase their COVID-19 bed capacities to accommodate more patients infected with the virus.

Furthermore, the DOH reported that at least four hospitals in the region have ceased operations since June 18 due to high infection among its medical workers and staff.

These are the Felipe Abrigo Memorial Hospital and Saint Jude Hospital, both in Guiuan, Eastern Samar; Pintuyan District Hospital in Pintuyan, Southern Leyte; and the Kananga Municipal Hospital in Kananga town, Leyte.