DOH: No local case of Delta variant in PH
A HEALTH official on Thursday said there is no local case of the highly transmissible coronavirus Delta variant in the country.
“Wala tayong locally reported na Delta variant na kaso,” DOH Epidemiology OIC-Director Alethea de Guzman said during an online media forum.
This came after DOH Davao regional director Annabelle Yumag said on Tuesday that 14 patients in the region have recovered from infection caused by the Alpha and Delta variants of coronavirus.
“I would have to check, she [Yumang] may be referring to an ROF [returning overseas Filipino] na pagkatapos ng isolation maaaring bumalik sa Davao pero I can confirm we don’t have no local case of Delta variant,” de Guzman said.
Earlier, Dr. Eva Maria Cutiongco-dela Paz, executive director of the University of the Philippines Manila – National Institutes of Health reported there are only 17 Delta variant cases in the country all from returning international travelers, with no local case recorded yet – per the latest genome sequencing result.
De Guzman said the absence of local cases of Delta, Delta Plus or even Gamma variant in the country could be attributed to the government’s stronger border control “which is like a lockdown, buying the government some time to push the number of infections down and significantly increase vaccination coverage”. Philippine News Agency
