WHO report: Cases in stranded individuals, OFWs due to ‘poor adherence’ to protocols

The World Health Organization stated in its report that the increase of COVID-19 cases among repatriated OFWs and stranded individuals is due to the government’s “poor adherence” to quarantine protocols.

“Many new cases reported among repatriated [OFWs] and Locally Stranded Individuals (LSI) [was] due to poor adherence to proper prevention measures during the mandatory quarantine period,” WHO said.

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“Department of Health (DOH) [is] emphasizing the need for increased control of proper implementation of guidelines at LGU level […] the importance of adherence to minimum precautionary measures, as one of the recurrent sources of infection among new cases [in] the country,” they added.

Recently, local government officials appealed to the administration to revisit the “Hatid Probinsya” program as they attribute the increase of infections to LSIs returning to their provinces.

Bohol LGU reported nine LSIs who returned last June 7 were found positive of the virus.

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Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. reported earlier that the recent number of COVID-19 cases in Region 8 and Lanao are from locally stranded individuals. He said 66 new cases in Region 8 were LSIs.

Palace also admitted that the government that the transportation of locally stranded individuals from Metro Manila to the provinces is unexpected and that the government was not able to prepare for it.

The government has transported home more than 30,000 locally stranded individuals and about 54,000 OFWs.

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Also read: Stranded passengers at NAIA Terminal 3 sleep in sidewalk

WHO report on COVID-19 situation in the Philippines

According to WHO, the Philippines remained on Stage 2 level of virus transmission, which means that there are local transmissions. However, these are confined to a specific geographical area and not widespread.

WHO classified COVID-19 pandemic in four stages: Stage 0 means there are no cases, Stage 1 means the majority of cases are imported, Stage 2 means there is localized community transmission. Stage 3 means there is no clear link for infection origin.

“The Philippines remains in Stage 2, localized community transmission, with data indicating an increasing trend and likely higher transmission in the NCR and Central Visayas with evidence of cases exported from these two Regions to other areas with lower levels of transmission,” WHO said.

As of June 23, the Philippines has one of the highest COVID-19 cases in Southeast Asia, currently at 31,825, with 1,186 patients dead and 8,442 recoveries.