June 16, 2009 — 247 H1N1 Confirmed Cases in the Philippines — A State of Calamity is Declared in Jaen, Nueva Ecija

16 June 2009

Nationwide, the Philippine tally of confirmed H1N1 cases has climbed to 247.  We had 193 confirmed cases as of yesterday plus the 54 new cases today.

This is H1N1 Update No. 42 from the DOH website:

H1N1 Update No. 42

16 June 2009

LOCAL UPDATES

TOTAL CONFIRMED	247
NEW CASES	54
GENDER Males Females	25            29
AGE RANGE NATIONALITIES	5-70 years old    52 Filipinos      2 Foreigners
Total Discharged	85
Newly Discharged	14

HILERA ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

194 ILI Cases (as of June 12); 20 confirmed Affected Barangays: 1. Hilera (no. of cases decreasing) 2. Pakul 3. Lambakin Intervention 1.  School Closure 2.  Active Disease Surveillance 3.  Health Education 4.  Social Distancing

CANDELARIA HIGH SCHOOL

49 ILI Cases; 8 Confirmed Affected Barangays:  1.  Bambang - 23 ILI Found 2.  Sta. Ana - 7 ILI Found 3.  Matungas Intervention: Epidemiologic Investigation On-going

GLOBAL UPDATE

Total:	35,928
Death:	168
No.of Countries Reporting:	76

I'm afraid, we can expect more H1N1 cases.  I believe the nation is now paying the price for the secretive attitude of the DOH in the early days of H1N1 transmission and infection, typified by its refusal to release the flight nos. which eventually bring H1N1 infected passengers to the country. Even now, this secretive attitude of the DOH persists and it's not going to help us any. Never!

  

With the country blind with respect to which flights bring in H1N1 infected passengers, the other passengers in those flights naturally took things easy. But had the DOH took things more seriously, publicized the flight details and called publicly on the passengers who took those flights to conduct more aggressive self-quarantine or social distancing, we won't have the high count of 247 cases by now. Things would have been more contained.  

With the lack of transparency came complacency and it silently fueled the contagion which is now spreading rapidly.

Meanwhile, a state of calamity has been declared in the town of Jaen, Nueva Ecija because of the sustained H1N1 outbreak in Bgy. Hilera and in the adjoining communities. 

More in this report on the outbreak in Jaen courtesy of GMANews.tv:

For the latest Philippine news stories and videos, visit GMANews.TV

This ABS-CBN report by Zyann Ambrosio tells of a small town's fight against a baffling H1N1 outbreak and dramatizes the heartaches suffered by mothers whose children have tested H1N1 positive.