The City Health Office (CHO) announced Thursday five new COVID-19 cases from Barangay Sta. Monica, brought about by community transmission.
Dr. Dean Palanca, the Incident Commander of City Task Force for COVID-19, stated June 25 in a live video advisory that these individuals are those who have direct contact with the COVID-19-infected Ospital ng Palawan (ONP) medical personnel.
“Sila po, ang ilan po sa kanila, ay nandito na sa ating facility naka-isolate po dito, at ‘yong natitira pong miyembro, natitirang mga members ng direct contacts na ito, ay atin pong ine-extricate ngayon para madala po sa ating facility,” said Palanca.
“Sila po ay sabi nga natin, kailangan na natin talagang pangalanan para alam rin po ito ng ating community. Itong mga direct contact na ito ay nandito po sa Barangay Sta. Monica. I repeat, nandito po sa Barangay Sta. Monica ito pong ating mga confirmed case na direct contact sa ating mga medical personnel,” Palanca added.
Dr. Palanca noted these five cases are only partial results of the direct contact individuals they recently subjected to GeneXpert RT-PCR testing.
Palanca said these new five COVID-19 cases, whose results were released this early Thursday morning, are comprised of three males and two females under different age brackets.
He said these patients include a six-year-old girl and 25-year-old female and three males aged 57, 28, and 26.
“After this, magkakaroon po ng karagdagang contact tracing ang ating contact tracing team, na gagawin galing dito sa ating mga bagong cases,” said Palanca.
Palanca said City Mayor Lucilo Bayron, as of the press time, is conducting an emergency meeting with the concerned agencies to further discuss the necessary steps and actions to take.
Dr. Ruffia Atencio, Incident Management Team (IMT) Safety Officer, responding to the question of City Information Officer (CIO) Richard Ligad on the same video advisory, confirmed that this is now considered a community transmission.
“Ngayon kung ang tatanungin niyo ay, ‘Saan ang nahawa? Ang nakahawa ba ay [from] barangay [at] napunta sa ospital o ‘yong personnel sa ospital [ang] nakahawa sa barangay?’ Iyan ang hindi pa natin masasagot,” said Atencio.
“Pero either way, alin man dito ang nauna, ang pinakamahalaga na kailangan niyong malaman ay isa na po siyang community transmission. So kailangan nating sabihin sa mga tao na tayo ay mag-doble po ng ating pag-iingat,” Atencio added.