DAVAO CITY —- The municipal government of Polomolok in South Cotabato is contemplating of a localized lockdown following contact tracing reports that the three COVID-19 positive patients have close contacts to about 4,000 people.
Polomolok town Mayor Honey Lumayag-Matti in a report released by Philippine News Agency said the concerned individuals were tracked down through the electronic or digital logs generated by the province’s Covid-19 Contact Tracing System (SC-CCTS).
The local health authorities have traced over 4,000 people as possible close contacts of the three confirmed patients which is being considered locally-transmitted.
Authorities were alerted for possible direct contact with three of the town’s four active Covid-19 patients.
“Most of them came in certain periods to the same establishments visited by the patients based on the SC-CCTS records,” the mayor stressed.
The mayor was referring to the town’s patient no. 3, a 25-year-old agricultural worker, who tested positive for the disease through Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) on Aug. 14.
During contact tracing, she said. they found out that patient no.3 recently attended a party attended by a locally stranded individual (LSI) who was just released the 14-day quarantine.
Patients no. 4, 5, and 6 — a six-month-old boy, 22-year-old female, and 27-year-old female, respectively — were only confirmed on Aug. 17.
Patients no. 5 and 6 had also attended parties with their co-workers but the surveillance team is still determining if they were also exposed to repatriated LSIs or overseas Filipino workers, she said.
All four patients have no travel history outside Region 12 (Soccsksargen) and considered as possible cases of local transmission.
Matti said the Municipal Health Office’s (MHO) surveillance unit is now tracing the other movements and possible exposure of the patients, specifically the three adults.
Because of this, the mayor is toying the idea of declaring a localized lockdown in some parts of the town to contain the spread of the disease.
Meanwhile, she advised residents to stay home and limit their movements to essential transactions especially those ages under 21 years old and 60 years old and above, pregnant women, and those with illnesses.
“Everyone should always wear face masks, face shields, practice proper hygiene and observe safe physical distancing, especially when going to public places and business establishments,” she added.– with PNA report
