Mayor Sara Duterte has directed the Department of Health (DOH) in the region to conduct daily advisories on the novel coronavirus (nCoV) through its social media page or scheduled press conferences.
In an interview on Monday, Duterte said that she already told DOH XI regional director Dr. Annabelle Yumang to contain the proliferation of bogus information by being more proactive in disseminating information.
“We agreed that the DOH XI will be disseminating daily health advisories for the city and the whole region. We also agreed to conduct daily press cons so that all will be updated with our daily health activities,” she said.
In response, Yumang said they will only conduct their press conferences after the DOH national has done theirs.
“We have agreed that DOH will only be the source of any information. All updates and information must come only from the DOH regional director and the assistant regional director,” she said.
She also said that no other agency, not even the City Health Office or the city government, will be the source of the nCoV information.
“No one from the city government or from any other agency must disclose updates and information in our daily monitoring of nCoV in the city, as well as the whole region,” she said.
“The World Health Organization only speaks of the DOH, not any city health offices or any other agencies when it comes to information dissemination. This is also to prevent leaking of confidential matters or misinformation from fake sources,” she added.
The said mandate will also be a way to avoid confusing the public, which can cause panic.
Meanwhile, the DOH recorded five persons under investigation, and one has been discharged already.
Based on the daily situational report of the DOH as of noon on Feb. 3, 67 persons were already under investigation in the country.
The DOH already recorded 27 persons under investigation in NCR–two of them were confirmed cases, with one mortality; three PUIs in Ilocos; 15 in Central Luzon; four in MIMAROPA; eight in Western Visayas; one in Eastern Visayas; one in Cagayan Valley; 11 in Central Visayas; five in Northern Mindanao; and also five in Davao City.
Of the 67 PUI cases, 10 were already discharged. Health officials assured that they are closely monitoring these cases.
