DEPARTMENT of Health (DOH) Assistant Secretary Maria Rosario Vergeire on Monday, March 9, said there is no need to declare a lockdown since no community transmission has been confirmed yet.
Vergeire said a lockdown is a preventive strategy enclosed in Code Red sub-level 2 alert which will be declared upon confirmation of sustained community transmission.
The Covid-19 threat in the country is still under Code Red sub-level 1 after the DOH reported first case of local transmission, a 62-year-old man who has no travel history. Thus, declaration of lockdown might be premature.
The assistant secretary said the main determinant of community transmission is at least one case of unknown linkages or it cannot be traced to be connected among the others.
She added that community transmission has not yet been considered because the health department is still gathering more complete information.
"The main determinant para masabing may community transmission, kapag ang mga kaso ay hindi na-link to each other kaya nga po inaalam natin lahat ang mga kasong ito sa ngayon para makita natin if there are linkages between and among these positive cases that we have. Pag na-analyze na po natin, nakumpleto natin ang impormasyon, na meron kahit isa na walang link dito sa 20 natin na mga cases, then this will trigger the declaration of sustained community transmission," Vergeire told reporters in a press conference Monday afternoon.
(The main determinant of community transmission is when cases were not linked to each other, that is why we are investigating all of these cases as of this time to see if there are linkages between and among these positive cases that we have. When we analyze and complete the details, if we find at least one case has no link to 20 other cases, then this will trigger the declaration of sustained community transmission.)
She said there is a possibility of community transmission but based on their current data, it cannot be determined yet.
Coronavirus survival on high temperature
The DOH did not confirmed nor deny the information spreading around social media that the coronavirus will not survive and propagate on heat and in places with high temperature.
"Marami na pong nagsasabi tungkol diyan, pag tiningnan natin meron naman ibang bansa na mainit din pero mataaas ang kaso, so ang ibig sabihin po, hindi ko sinasabi na mali o hindi totoo, hindi ko rin sasabihing tama. Kailangan pa natin ng mas maraming pag-aaral para ma-prove natin at magkaroon ng ebidensya na totoo nga po iyan na ang virus na ito ay namamatay sa init ng araw."
(Many are saying about that, but there are hot countries which also have many cases, so I mean, I don't say that this is wrong or false, but I'm also not saying that this is right or true. We still need more research and studies to find evidence to prove that coronavirus will not survive under the heat of the sun.)
Cases
As of Monday noon, among the 468 contacts of cases 4 to 10, 413 have been assessed, 107 undergo home quarantine and six were identified as patients under investigation (PUI) and were placed under isolation at various health facilities.
On Monday afternoon, DOH confirmed ten new cases on top of the other ten reported earlier. On Monday night, President Rodrigo Duterte announced additional four confirmed cases. There are now a total of 24 confirmed cases in the Philippines. (SunStar Philippines)
