Parañaque City Mayor Edwin Olivarez ordered all barangay chairmen to intensify the enforcement of health protocols and implement a “bio-syndromic surveillance” for new coronavirus variant.
The move is in response to President Rodrigo Duterte’s appeal to all mayors to push hard all community leaders to ensure that precautionary measures against COVID-19 are observed.
“For barangay captains who do not perform their duties… the surveillance in Manila would just notice that there is a spike in your barangay, then we will investigate why there is a spike,” the president said.
Duterte said local government officials should be “zealous” with their job, noting that they have influence over their constituents. Mayors, the president added, should be “pushed hard” because it is their obligation to protect public health.
In a memorandum, Olivarez also urged barangay officials to be vigilant by closely and strictly monitoring of “all balikbayans in your area of jurisdiction, specifically those coming from South Africa, Europe and United Kingdom, where the new variant originates.”
For the past 10 months since the onset of COVID-19 virus, Olivarez said that his administration has been implementing pandemic guidelines issued by the national government as they exerted effort and resources in the prevention and containment of the virus.
As of Sunday, the total number of active cases in the city is 98 or 1.2 percent including no address/unknown barangay. The City Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit (CESU) reported a total of 8,030 confirmed cases while recovered patients are 7,727 (96.2%) and deaths have a total number of 205 (2.6%). Joel E. Zurbano
“However, recent health report on the new strain of virus that is more contiguous than the existing one is now affecting several countries worldwide,” he explained.
The new coronavirus variant found in UK, which have been named ‘VUI-202012/01’ is reportedly said to be 70 percent more infectious.
Olivarez, who is presently the chairman of the Metro Manila Council, directed the city’s16 barangay chairman to immediately put into effect the bio syndromic surveillance, an analysis of medical data to detect or anticipate disease outbreaks.
Syndromic surveillance also provides public health officials with a timely system for detecting, understanding, and monitoring health events.
Though historically syndromic surveillance has been utilized to target investigation of potential cases, its utility for detecting outbreaks associated with bioterrorism is increasingly being explored by public health officials.
“Should there be any findings, kindly immediately coordinate with our City Health Office for proper and appropriate health intervention and management,” said Olivarez.
He added that an early awareness and response to a bioterrorist attack could save many lives and potentially stop or slow the spread of the outbreak.