ILOILO CITY—The number of employees infected by coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the Western Visayas regional office of the Department of Health (DOH) has risen to 19.
Dr. Mary Jane Juanico confirmed that there were seven more employees, who were contracted COVID-19 as of Tuesday, January 12.
Earlier, an initial 10 employees from DOH-6’s Regional Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit (RESU) infected. They were in charge of handling the coordination and data gathering for COVID-19 cases in areas comprising the Western Visayas region.
It was also determined that the first case was a RESU employee, who tested positive for COVID-19 last January 7. According to Juanico, the employee started developing flu-like symptoms during the long holidays, and did not report to DOH-6’s regional office in Iloilo City anymore.
However, DOH-6 still cannot ascertain where the index case got infected with COVID-19. It was not yet known whether the patient got infected at the office or the community.
The rising number of COVID-19 cases in the agency has been hampering DOH-6’s day-to-day operations.
“Almost all units are affected as contact tracing continues. Most of us are on home quarantine or have to work from home,” Juanico added.