The Department of Health (DOH) said local government units in the National Capital Region (NCR) have been asked to reactivate its Coordinated Operations to Defeat Epidemic (CODE) amid the increasing number of COVID-19 cases in the country.
“Dito sa NCR cities, inutusan na silang gawin ulit ‘yung CODE, ‘yung pagbabahay-bahay natin. Itong Coordinated Operations to Defeat Epidemic, where one of the components would be the Dharavi Model kung saan nagbabahay-bahay sila. Hinahanap na talaga nila lahat ng na-expose, lahat ng may sintomas at ineextract natin sa mga kabahayan nila, para hindi pa makapanghawa sa komunidad (Here in the NCR cities, they have been told to revive the CODE, that is, going house to house. This Coordinated Operations to Defeat Epidemic, where one of the components would be the Dharavi Model, includes going house to house. They track down those who were exposed, have symptoms and extract them out of their homes to avoid infecting the community),” Health Spokesperson Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire relayed in an online briefing.
The Dharavi model, which was implemented during the surge in July and August last year, is done through house-to-house visitations to identify those who are showing symptoms of COVID-19.
“Very active sila ngayon na ginagawa iyan, nagbabahay-bahay. They are trying to see who are those who have symptoms and naghahanap po sila ng mas malawakan pa na quarantine facilities doon sa kani-kanilang mga lugar para mailagay (They are now very active in doing house to house. They are trying to see who are those who have symptoms and looking for more quarantine facilities in their respective areas to accommodate them),” Usec. Vergeire explained.
In relation to this, the DOH said the Department of Public Works and Highways through Isolation Czar Secretary Mark Villar is currently constructing more temporary treatment and monitoring facilities (TTMF) in the country for individuals who will be needing isolation.
Meanwhile, the DOH assured testing and tracing strategies are in place to arrest the rapid transmission of COVID-19.
“Nakapagdeploy ulit ang DILG ng additional contact tracers para lang ma-supplement yung current contact tracing teams. ‘Yung testing naman, sila Secretary Vince Dizon, through our testing laboratories and of course DOH, naka-pagprovide tayo ng additional test kits para dito sa mga cities sa Metro Manila, and those areas outside of Metro Manila na medyo tumataas din ang kaso. (The DILG has re-deployed additional contract tracers to supplement the current contact tracing teams. As for the testing, Secretary Vince Dizon, through our testing laboratories and of course DOH, were able to provide additional test kits for the cities in Metro Manila, and those areas outside of Metro Manila with a slightly higher number of cases,” Vergeire reported.
The country averaged more than 40,000 tests a day last week, which is expected to increase as contact tracing efforts are being intensified, with a ratio of one to six.
But aside from testing and tracing, Usec. Vergeire reiterated that what is more important now is the immediate isolation and quarantine.
“So kailangan, kapag na-trace na nila ‘yung contact, within 24 hours, naka-quarantine na ‘yung individual para maputol natin ‘yung transmission ng mga kaso (What is needed once the contact has been traced is that the individual should be quarantined within 24 hours to cut the transmission of cases,” she pointed out.
According to the DOH, these are all part of the government’s strategies to be made during the two week-restrictions in the country.
Usec. Vergeire recalled the effect of the previous timeout implemented last August 2020 when cases went down after three to four weeks but hospital services still continued to rise for about a month due to the virus’ incubation period.
“So let’s see, let’s look at three to four weeks before we can really see the effect of these two weeks (of) stricter restrictions in our country,” Usec. Vergeire concluded. – Mark Fetalco
