City Councilor Dave Tumulak | CDN Digital File Photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines – The Cebu City Council has urged government agencies tasked to monitor and handle the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) situation to furnish them with data on the patients and travelers who arrived in Cebu from affected countries.
The council, in a special session conducted Monday, February 10, approved a resolution asking such details from the Bureau of Immigration (BI – 7), Bureau of Quarantine (BOQ -7), and Department of Health in Central Visayas (DOH – 7).
These include the names, addresses, and contact details of passengers, both via air and sea, arriving in Cebu from countries affected by the 2019-nCoV – such as mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan- from January 20, 2020, onward.
Councilor Dave Tumulak, the author of the resolution, said the move was intended to help facilitate contact tracing of individuals who were in close proximity to the three patients confirmed to have 2019-nCoV.
“If we can help with the contact tracing, then we can help monitor these persons and possibly do a medical intervention if necessary,” he said.
The Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) has ordered local government units through a memorandum last February 6 to respond to the 2019-nCoV situation.
Tumulak said the data will be regarded ‘with the utmost confidentiality and in accordance with the Data Privacy Act’.
The first three patients confirmed to have the 2019-nCoV in the country – all of whom are Chinese tourists – arrived via Mactan Cebu International Airport (MCIA) last January.
Two of them, a 38-year-old female and a 44-year-old male, traveled to Dumaguete City shortly after entering the country on January 21.
DOH Central Office, in a press briefing, approximately two hours after the council gave the resolution a go signal, announced they already completed contact tracing of the two patients who also went to Dumaguete City.
The other was a 60-year-old Chinese woman who went to Bohol on January 20. She boarded a fast-craft from Pier 1 in Cebu City.
DOH said they are now 56 percent in their contact tracing progress for the third case. / rcg
READ MORE: BREAKING: Contact tracing for first two confirmed cases complete – DOH