THE Delta variant remains as the dominant variant of concern (VOC) of Covid-19 cases in Davao Region, despite the presence of the highly transmissible Omicron variant.

Based on the data of the Department of Health (DOH)-Davao as of February 2, the Delta variant tallied a total of 514 local cases and 14 cases from returning overseas Filipinos (ROF).

Among these, Davao City has the highest local cases of the Delta variant with 222, followed by Davao del Norte with 171, Davao Oriental with 47, Davao de Oro with 29, Davao Occidental with 25, and Davao del Sur with 20.

Delta cases from ROFs are composed of six cases from Davao City, three from Davao del Sur and Davao del Norte, and two from Davao de Oro while Davao Oriental had no case.

On the other hand, the local cases of the Omicron variant have a total of 111, of which 15 are cases from ROFs. This makes the Omicron variant the least dominant variant in the region.

Dr. Rachel Pasion, head of the Regional Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit of DOH-Davao, said during a press conference on February 4 that although Delta is the dominant variant, it only has a 0.4 time-varying reproduction.

In comparison, the Omicron variant has a 3.5 to 11 time-varying reproduction, meaning it has a faster transmission.

Still, Pasion said DOH-Davao cannot predict when the Omicron variant will become the dominant VOC in the region.

She added that the region is imposing strategies to slow down the infection of the Omicron variant.

“Yung ating vaccination status, yung mga different strategies natin na imposed (We are imposing a vaccination roll out and other strategies), so we really won’t know when will the omicron be the dominant variant in the region because we have a lot of measures that we are imposing,” said Pasion.

Meanwhile, Davao Region is still under “critical state,” as it records a 339.47 two-week growth rate (2WGR) as of February 4.

The DOH official said on the same virtual presser that there is still a significant spread of the coronavirus since the 2WGR of Davao Region has not yet reached a negative rate.

“Our 2WGR for the whole region, we have 339.47 growth rate so nagataas gihapon sya, wala sya naga negative (Our 2WGR for the whole region is 339.47 so it’s still high, it has not yet reached a negative rate),” said Pasion.

Furthermore, the duration of the current surge being experienced by the region is difficult to predict since it is “behavioral,” according to Pasion.

She said the practice of the minimum public health standards (MPHS) and the vaccination roll out play a big factor in the surge.

“Still we should not be complacent because it would really depend on how we discipline ourselves... Dili lang sa MPHS, dili lang sya bakuna, it should be both. Ang pagsaka sa atong kaso, behavioral aspect gyod sya, disiplina sa usa’t-usa (We should impose both the MPHS and the vaccine because the rise in our cases is a behavioral aspect, it’s the discipline of everyone),” Pasion said.