SAN FERNANDO CITY, La Union – Some 13,441 out of the total 17,516 coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) patients in the Ilocos Region have recovered as of May 16, according to the Department of Health Center for Health Development Ilocos regional office (DOH-CHD 1).
In an interview on Monday, DOH-CHD 1 Covid-19 focal person Dr. Rheuel Bobis said the high recovery rate can be attributed to the type of patients and the efficiency of frontline workers in hospitals and isolation facilities.
“Karamihan sa mga detected with the virus ay asymptomatic or mild lang kaya madali din silang gumagaling at yong mga Covid-19 referral hospitals and isolation facilities ay very equipped on the guidelines kung paano i-handle ang mga cases (Most of the patients detected with the virus are asymptomatic or are just experiencing mild symptoms so they recover faster and the Covid-19 referral hospitals and isolation facilities are very equipped on the guidelines to handle the cases),” he said.
Of the total recovered patients, 6,544 are in Pangasinan, 4,183 in La Union, 1,752 in Ilocos Norte, and 962 in Ilocos Sur.
Bobis said they are also on alert following the entry of the Covid-19 Indian variant in the country.
“The police and the local government units are strictly implementing border checkpoints while DOH-CHD 1 sent samples for testing at the University of the Philippines-Philippines Genome Center and so far, we have not yet received results positive of Indian-variant,” he said.
Meanwhile, Bobis said vaccination in the region continues with 86,000 doses of AstraZeneca that arrived last week and 28,800 doses of Sinovac on Monday.
“(Some) 74.74 percent of our frontline health workers in the region have been inoculated for first doses while 35 percent of them have been fully inoculated,” he said. (PNA)
