BY ADRIAN P. NEMES III
Four more cases of the highly-transmissible Delta variant of the coronavirus disease were detected in Bacolod City, executive director Em Ang of the Emergency Operations Center said yesterday.
Ang said they received the report of the University of the Philippines-Philippine Genome Center Saturday, adding that these cases were part of the specimens gathered from July 25 to August 4.
She said the new Delta infections were all women, including a 78-year-old resident of Singcang, a 25-year-old from Taculing, a 31-year-old from Vista Alegre, and a 55-year-old from Villamonte.
They have all recovered and completed their mandatory quarantine and isolation, she added.
With this, the total number of Delta variant cases recorded in Bacolod City rose to 10, EOC records showed.
Ang said surgical lockdowns have been implemented in the areas where the new cases were detected, while their close contacts have been swabbed.
She said that the four women were also re-swabbed, based on the guidelines of the National Inter-Agency Task Force, but they were not taken into the quarantine facility as they already finished their mandatory 14-day isolation.
As of now, Bacolod has no active Delta case, Ang said, adding that the cty also logged 10 Theta and several Alpha and Beta infections.
“Even with all our best efforts, the highly-contagious Delta variant threatens to drive another surge in the Covid cases,” Ang said. “The variant’s higher transmissibility means that clusters of cases can quickly lead to bigger outbreaks, making it more important for us to keep our guard up.”
LEVEL 3 RISK AREA
Bacolod was categorized as Level 3 risk area for Covid-19 from Level 2 last week, the Department of Health in Region 6 said.
It added that the epidemiological parameters for Bacolod also increased in the past two weeks.
Positivity rate in Bacolod stood at 23.87 percent, higher than the 15 percent it registered last week.
The two-week growth rate was 12 percent, while attack rate was 7 for every 10,000 population.
The city is under the General Community Quarantine with heightened restrictions until September 7.*
