BY GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Four more cases of the highly-contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus disease 2019 have been recorded in Negros Occidental.
One case each was reported in La Carlota, Silay, Valladolid, and Pulupandan, based on a report from the Philippine Genome Center.
Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said the cases involved a 69-year-old woman from Valladolid, a 79-year-old woman in Pulupandan, a 9-year-old minor in Silay City, and a 29-year-old resident of La Carlota City.
La Carlota Mayor Rex Jalando-on said the Delta infected resident and his family members were placed on isolation for repeat swab tests.
He said the infected person did not coordinate with the La Carlota government for quarantine upon his arrival, but instead, went home straight in one of the city’s barangays.
Upon receipt of the positive RT-PCR result on Aug. 2, he said the locally-stranded individual, who is asymptomatic, was immediately brought to an isolation facility, where he stayed for 10 days.
He was released on Aug. 11 after he tested negative in the repeat swab test, Jalando-on said, adding that his family members all yielded negative RT-PCR results.
Jalando-on said they were informed by the Provincial Health Office Saturday night that the genome sequencing done on the first RT-PCR showed that the LSI was infected with the Delta variant, so he and his family were placed on isolation.
Meanwhile, the first Delta case in Negros Occidental, the 52-year-old returning overseas worker from Talisay City, has already been declared recovered by Provincial Health Officer, Dr. Ernell Tumimbang, recently after the result of his re-swab yielded negative.*
