Contact tracing of Leyte's 1st Covid-19 patient intensified

THE DEPARTMENT  of Health (DOH) and the local government on Friday vowed to intensify the search for those who had contact with Leyte province’s first coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) patient.   

DOH 8 (Eastern Visayas) Director Minerva Molon said they have been working closely with the rural health unit to prevent local transmission like what happened in Samar, where the region’s second patient from Calbayog City infected others in nearby Tarangnan town.

“We are preventing the local transmission for it will transcend into community transmission, and we don’t like it to happen,” Molon said.

Contact tracing began on Thursday afternoon right after the release of the test result of the 58-year-old woman from Burauen town, provincial health officer, Lesmes Lumen, said.

The patient arrived in the country from Guam on March 9 and stayed in Metro Manila for two days before returning to Burauen via land travel on March 13. She traveled in a private car with 16 family members and friends.

All 16 passengers were asymptomatic as of Friday, the DOH said.

Those who were exposed to the patient before the appearance of her symptoms and admission at the Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center here are considered close contacts and will be investigated.

Lumen said the health officers of Burauen already have a list of contacts before the confirmation of the patient’s test results, and they are coming up with more.

Considered priority are those who had contact with the patient from March 21 to April 16, the period when she manifested severe Covid-19 symptoms.

The DOH will provide the necessary assistance to the local government for the extensive contact tracing.

It clarified that Leyte’s first coronavirus patient is not related to previously confirmed cases in Eastern Visayas, and is thus not a local transmission.

As to the total lockdown of the village where the patient resides, Lumen said certain qualifications need to be met before a total quarantine is imposed, thus they need to make serious investigations. (By Lizbeth Ann Abella)