Healthcare utilization rate in CAR reaches ‘moderate risk’

MANILA, Philippines — The healthcare utilization rate in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) has reached “moderate risk” following the detection of individuals with the more transmissible Covid-19 variant in Bontoc, Mountain Province and in La Trinidad, Benguet.

“Sa ngayon ang regional healthcare utilization natin is at 61 percent. Lumagpas sya sa low [risk]. Naging moderate risk na siya kaya ‘yan din ‘yung isa sa finlag natin,” Dr. Althea de Guzman, medical specialist at the DOH Epidemiology Bureau, said in a media forum Tuesday.

(Right now, the regional healthcare utilization rate is at 61 percent. It exceeded low risk and reached moderate risk so we flagged that observation.)

De Guzman said the DOH regional office in CAR is exerting measures on how to thicken the capacity reserve for the health system in the region.

“With or without these variants, we want hospitals to increase their dedicated beds so that in case mayroon tayong nakikitang pagtaas kakayanin ‘yan, maaaccomodate itong surge na ito (we see surge of cases, we can accommodate that surge of infection). That is already being addressed by our regional office,” she added.

The DOH earlier said that 12 individuals in Bontoc, Mountain province tested positive for the more infectious B.1.1.7 variant of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19. Eleven of them are from Barangay Samoki. De Guzman refused to disclose the barangay address of the other patient from Bontoc, saying this is still being verified.

On Monday, the health department confirmed there is already local transmission of the virus variant in Bontoc following the detection of the 12 cases.

In Bontoc, “all identified cases with the UK variant can be epidemiologically linked to cases coming directly from outside the country (importation) or from specific cases or exposures that can still be identified (local transmission),” according to DOH.

However, the department also clarified that it did not find strong evidence for a community transmission in the town. Community transmission happens when there is a large number of cases, occurrence of case clusters in multiple areas, and inability to link cases to known sources of infection.

Meanwhile, four household members of the 22-year-old male patient in La Trinidad also tested positive for Covid-19. Their specimen will be submitted for genome sequencing to identify if they also have the new variant of the virus.

READ: DOH: 38 close contacts of UK variant patients positive for SARS-CoV-2

The DOH said the 22-year-old patient already tested negative for Covid-19 but remains in isolation. His exposure and travel history is still being investigated by health authorities.

A total of 17 confirmed cases of the UK variant of Covid-19 have so far been detected nationwide.

JE