Infection among healthcare workers ‘worrisome’

MANILA, Philippines — The World Health Organization (WHO) has expressed concern over the high rates of healthcare workers contracting the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the Philippines.

At a recent press briefing, WHO-Western Pacific Region COVID-19 Incident manager Abdi Mahamud said the average of healthcare workers contracting the virus in the Philippines is high compared to the regional average.

“Infection among healthcare workers is very worrisome…  The worrisome trend we see in the Philippines where the percentage is 13 percent. It’s very worrisome,” Mahamud said as he described that the country is “a bit of an outlier.”

“(We are) working very closely with minister of health to determine reasons why the Philippines has a high percentage among infected healthcare workers,” he added.

In the region, the overall average is two to three percent of healthcare workers infected, with South Korea, Australia and Japan having “low” percentage, according to the WHO official.

“What we can see from the trend are the shortage of (personal protective equipment or PPE), training how to use it (and) the overwhelmed health system where more people come in,” he said.

Meanwhile, WHO-Western Pacific regional director Takeshi Kasai said many countries have introduced periods of lockdown and other prevention measures and they were proven effective in slowing and reducing the transmission of the virus.

“Today, we appear to have no widespread community transmission in the region, but they’ve also upended millions of people’s lives and have major economic impact,” he claimed.

Kasai, however, underscored that the lifting of lockdowns or any other measures should be done by phase.

“WHO strongly urges that decision be guided by public health principles. The lifting of lockdown or any other measures needs to be done gradually. I’m sure nobody wants to see another spike by lifting the restriction so soon,” he said.

Kasai also cautioned that if restrictions are “relaxed or lifted before strong systems are in place to identify, isolate and care for the sick and tracing their contact, this will likely lead to a resurgence of the disease.”– With Pia Lee-Brago