THE Bacolod City Emergency Operations Center (EOC) is reiterating to the public, who are placed under contact tracing, to disclose all necessary information to the City’s Contact Tracing Team.

The EOC has again made this call after it found out that some individuals who had been on contact tracing withheld relevant information from the Contact Tracing Team.

“Early detection, identification, isolation and containment of the virus prevent dreaded effects which may lead to death,” said contact tracing cluster head Dr. Rosalie Deocampo.

The information to be provided during contact tracing must be “truthful and accurate” to effectively curb the spread of the viral disease, according to EOC medical deputy for data analysis and assessment Dr. Chris Sorongon.

The EOC also warned of charges against individuals who do not provide the needed information during contact tracing. Under Section 9 of Republic Act 11332, “tampering of records or intentionally providing misinformation” and “non-cooperation of the person or entities identified as having the notifiable disease, or affected by the health event of public concern” are prohibited acts.

“Late detection of symptomatic individuals (not disclosed upon contact tracing) may lead to Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (Sari), instead of Influenza-Like Infection (ILI) if detected early.

"Sari may lead to an increase in the city’s hospital admission,” said Deocampo.

Bacolod City has reported 13 new cases, as of January 19, raising the number of active cases to 122, which is still relatively low.

“Having low cases doesn’t mean we can be complacent. We should even be stricter since we are now having low cases,” said Sorongon.

On January 7, the Department of Health confirmed the detection of a new coronavirus strain (B.1.1.7. Sars-CoV-2) in a Filipino who returned home from the United Arab Emirates.

A travel ban is now in place until January 31, covering 34 countries to prevent the further spread of the new strain. (PR)