ZAMBOANGA CITY – The number of active Covid-19 cases here has breached the 1,000 mark with a record high of 177 cases in just one day as government hospitals are now full of patients, including doctors who contracted the deadly respiratory disease from non-Covid wards.
“The active Covid-19 cases reached the 1,000 mark. A record high of 177 new cases and 93 new recoveries were added to the list raising the confirmed Covid-19 cases for Zamboanga City (since the pandemic broke out in March last year) to 14,075 as of September 19, 2021. Active cases now total 1,013 while recovered cases total 12,398 (since last year) and (the total) death toll remains at 664,” the local government said in an advisory.
With the increasing number of active Covid-19 cases, Zamboanga City may be placed under the stricter Enhanced Community Quarantine or the lesser Moderate Enhanced Community Quarantine as it did early this year when active Covid-19 cases reached nearly 3,000.
The national government’s Inter-Agency Task Force on the Management of Infectious Diseases (IATF-MEID) has placed Zamboanga under the General Community Quarantine until the end of the month.
But with dozens of cases daily, the IATF-MEID may change Zamboanga’s quarantine classification to allow the local government to impose stricter measures or granular lockdown in areas where there are high numbers of Covid-19 cases, and prevent the spread of the deadly respiratory disease.
The spike in infections in the community are largely blamed to the Delta variant of the Covid-19 and the complacency of residents who continue to violate public health protocols despite repeated warnings from the local government and the City Health Office.
City Health Officer Dr. Dulce Amor Miravite also noted that Covid-19 has already affected even the younger population with deadly consequences. “We are now seeing the younger population also getting infected. We have compared our data from last year (when the original virus was detected) with the present situation, now we have under 15-years old who died from Covid. We have to strictly follow the minimum health standards. Let us protect ourselves, keep our family and our loved ones especially children and our senior citizens protected. Please take care,” Miravite said.
One doctor, who asked not to be named, said the Covid-19 wards at the Zamboanga City Medical Center are full. He said even some doctors have been infected with the virus after being exposed to relatives or family members of patients in non-Covid wards.
“The (Covid-19) wards are full and even doctors are getting sick and some of them who have comorbidities are now undergoing dialysis. They got the virus from watchers of patients in non-Covid wards. You know, patients being admitted undergo Covid testing, but now their watchers who turned out to be positive for Covid, although asymptomatic, spread the virus to some doctors and maybe other people at the hospital,” he told the Mindanao Examiner.
“This is a very dangerous time. Health authorities should have placed Zamboanga City under Enhanced Community Quarantine to immediately address the spike in Covid-19 cases which is largely blamed on the Delta variant (of the new Coronavirus). Now is the time to declare ECQ,” he added.
The Delta variant was first detected in India, but quickly spread in more than 130 countries.
Mayor Maria Isabelle Salazar, who chairs the local Covid-19 task force, has repeatedly called on residents to strictly follow the health protocols as the local government continues its massive vaccination program to be able to achieve herd immunity or inoculate at least 70% of Zamboanga’s almost or more than one million population.
Salazar also issued an executive order making it mandatory for all travellers - whether they are fully vaccinated or not - entering Zamboanga to present their negative RT-PCR test results, especially now that Delta variant is the dominant variant in the country.
The Department of Health said that the National Capital Region (NCR) is now under Alert Level 4 due to the huge number of active Covid-19 cases there. The NCR is currently at high-risk case classification while intensive care utilization is also under high risk classification.
Areas under Alert Level 4, the second highest alert level, show high and increasing case counts with total Covid-19 bed and intensive care beds at increasing utilization rates.
“During this time, we must ramp-up active case finding, conduct risk-based testing using RT-PCR, and fast track vaccination among high-risk groups. There will also be intensified granular lockdowns from barangay down to the household level to contain transmission,” said DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire.
“We also call on everyone to continuously observe the minimum public health standards and consciously avoid these three C’s that pose higher risk of Covid-19 transmission when all are present in your activities such as Crowded places and Closed-contact settings where physical distancing may not be observed, and people have face-to-face interaction, and Closed spaces with poor ventilation,” she added. (Mindanao Examiner)
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