Epidemiological characteristics of an outbreak of Coronavirus Disease 2019 in the Philippines

Mark Marcos Alipio; Joseph Dave Mendoza Pregoner

Adherence to infection control guidelines such as but not limited to frequently handwashing for at least 20 seconds, observing coughing etiquette, wearing of masks, and social distancing should be maintained in order to contain the disease, thereby decreasing the number of cases while increasing the rate of recovery which ultimately will flatten the epidemiological case curve. Filipinos who have been exposed to the virus from a known patient and showing symptoms should undergo test from the respective medical facilities, be isolated and treated. After sometime when two tests have been negative, they shall be advised to remain in an isolated area for 14 days. Similarly, those who have been exposed but showing no symptoms are hereby advised to self-quarantine for 14 days. Individuals who have fever and/or cough but have no history of exposure may also seek medical attention and implement the basic infection control guidelines. Finally, sanitization, quarantine, and isolation should be practiced fervently as it has been hypothesized in previous models that these measures are essential in combating the pandemic. 11, 12 . CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license It is made available under a is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. peer-reviewed) (which was not The copyright holder for this preprint . https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.04.12.20053926 doi: medRxiv preprint