THE threat of the Covid-19 Delta variant continues to spread across Davao Region after four additional specimens were tested positive for the highly infectious variant, raising the total number of confirmed Delta cases in the region to 13.
The Department of Health-Davao Region (DOH-Davao) announced on Sunday evening, August 15, that three additional Delta variant cases were detected from the specimens sent from Davao Region to University of the Philippines-Philippine Genome Center (UP-PGC) for whole-genome sequencing included in batch 30 and one from a returning overseas Filipino (ROF) whose address is located in Davao Region were reported.
Based on the initial investigation, two specimens came from Mati, Davao Oriental, the first case in the city and province, and the other one is from Tagum, Davao del Norte.
According to the patient's profile, a 38-year-old pregnant woman (five months) from Tagum tested positive for Delta. She was swabbed and tested positive at Davao Regional Medical Center last July 23. Currently, she is still an active case isolated at a temporary treatment and monitoring facility (TTMF) in Davao del Norte.
Another patient is a 33-year-old male from Mati. He was swabbed and tested positive last July 10. The specimen was sent to Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC). He was tagged as recovered after finishing the prescribed isolation period. He is scheduled for a repeat swab test.
Another resident from Mati who tested positive for Delta is a 32-year-old female. She was swabbed and tested positive last July 10. The specimen was sent to SPMC. She was tagged as recovered after finishing the prescribed isolation period. She is scheduled for a repeat test.
Meanwhile, the ROF is a 41-year-old male who arrived from Cairo, Egypt with a present address in Nabunturan, Davao de Oro. He arrived in Manila last July 18. He was swabbed and tested positive on July 24. He was quarantined at the Bureau of Quarantine (BOQ) Manila until August 3, 2021. He arrived at the Davao International Airport last August 4 and arrived in Davao de Oro on the same day. He was isolated in a facility in Davao de Oro until August 8. No re-swabbing prior to discharge was done. Currently, he is on strict home quarantine and for a repeat reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test on August 17.
DOH-Davao said the region currently has a total of 396 variants of concern cases (VOCs) detected. The region has submitted a total of 2,506 specimens for WGS at UP-PGC.
Davao Oriental Provincial Health Officer Dr. Reden Bersaldo said during the DOH-Davao virtual presser on Monday, August 16, that the province's first two cases of the Delta variants came from one family.
Bersaldo said their specimens were subjected to genome sequencing since their cases were "unusual" from the regular Covid-19 cases.
"(It is) Unusual in the sense na tibuok pamilya nila ang (that the entire family is) affected, and at the same time, critical cases sila (they are all critical cases)," he said, adding the rest of the family members and those who had close contact with them have pending results.
In addition, he said the close contacts will be re-swabbed and reisolated.
Bersaldo also said both of them are unvaccinated.
With the delay of the sequencing result, Bersaldo said they will treat all confirmed Covid-19 cases as "Delta cases unless proven otherwise."
Tagum City Health Office Chief Dr. Arnel Florendo said the second Delta case has nine closed contacts, wherein four of them tested positive. The four are asymptomatic and are currently quarantined.
Florendo said the close contact's specimen was already sent for genomic sequencing.
He said the first two Delta cases in Tagum may have infected each other considering they are from the same workplace.
"Considering the same workplace sila (they are in the same workplace), it's a possibility na tinitingnan namin (that we are looking into). Delta 1 was also tagged as community transmission. Yun nga ang naging concern namin dito sa (These is concerning for) Tagum City because we do not know the source of infection," he said.
“Although nakita namin, na-tag namin 'yung mga Delta cases namin pero (we saw and tagged our Delta cases) we're still trying to locate kung saan talaga nanggaling (where they got it) because both of them had no history of travel outside Tagum City," he added.
Florendo also said both of them had no contact with someone who had a history of travel outside the region or the country.
In addition, he said both Delta cases in Tagum were vaccinated. The second case already had her first dose.
Earlier Delta cases
Based on the earlier recorded Delta cases, six come from Davao City, wherein five are local cases, while one is a returning overseas Filipino from Zambia, Africa.
Other Delta cases recorded in the region are from Tagum City and Carmen in Davao del Norte, and Sta. Cruz in Davao del Sur.
Dr. Raquel Montejo, DOH-Davao Local Health Support Division chief, said in a virtual presser that all of the nine earlier recorded cases were tagged as recovered.
In terms of vaccination status, four of them are unvaccinated.
DOH-Davao confirmed on July 25 the first cases of Delta variant in the region. The variant, according to local health officials, had been previously linked to the surge of cases within their localities.
The Delta (B.1.617.2) variant of Sars-CoV-2 was first detected in India in October 2020.
According to the World Health Organization, it is believed to be 60 percent more contagious than the Alpha (B.1.1.7) variant, which was first detected in the United Kingdom.