MANILA, Philippines — To prevent the possible spread of COVID-19, Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte has ordered the continuous monitoring of those who evacuated during the height of Super Typhoon Rolly last weekend.
Some 6,000 residents were preemptively evacuated in the city before the typhoon made landfall in Bicol and passed through Southern Luzon.
Belmonte said the evacuees will be monitored even after they have returned to their homes.
“We will make sure that any possible infection will be prevented from spreading further to the communities,” she said.
City epidemiology and disease surveillance unit head Rolando Cruz said their contact tracing team is keeping a close watch on the evacuees.
He said the evacuees will be contacted regularly within the next two weeks to check on their health status.
This would ensure that there will be an immediate response should any of them experience COVID-related symptoms such as cough, colds and fever.
“We’ll exhaust all our means to contact and monitor our evacuees, ensuring that everyone is covered,” Cruz said.
Suspected cases will be scheduled for swab testing and will be transferred to a barangay or city-operated community caring facilities.
Their contacts will also be traced to minimize transmission should the test results show positive cases.
“We implore the cooperation of our citizens who were evacuated this weekend. We need your openness and honesty about your health status – symptoms or no symptoms,” Belmonte said.
She earlier directed concerned offices to ensure that proper health protocols are followed in implementing preventive evacuation due to Super Typhoon Rolly.
As of Nov. 6, Quezon City only has 768 active cases out of the 23,020 residents who tested positive for COVID-19 since the start of the outbreak. A total of 21,589 have already recovered, while 663 died.
Belmonte has repeatedly called on the public to remain vigilant and follow health protocols to prevent a resurgence of new cases.