A pregnant woman and a 71-year-old man have tested positive for the highly contagious COVID-19 Delta variant in barangays Banago and Sum-ag, Bacolod City, and their homes have been placed under surgical lockdowns, Mayor Evelio Leonardia announced Friday, August 13.
“This is not a time to panic, this is a time to be much more careful by complying with the basic health protocols”, he said.
“The Delta variant is already in Bacolod, we should be alarmed but there is no reason to panic”, Dr. Edwin Miraflor, Bacolod City Health Officer, also said.
The two Delta variant-hit Bacolodnons tested positive for COVID-19 on July 15 and 19,, and had been released from isolation because they had already completed their 14-day quarantine, Em Ang, City Administrator and executive director of the Bacolod Emergency Operations Center, said.
The city government only received the report from the Philippine Genome Center that the two were positive for the Delta variant Thursday night prompting the surgical lockdown, she said.
In compliance with Department of Health guidelines they were swabbed again along with 22 of their close contacts Friday for RT-PCR tests to determine if they have clinically recovered, Ang said.
Their homes will be under surgical lockdown until the test results are released, she said.
They are considered locally transmitted cases since the two have no history of travel, Ang added.
There is a possibility that Bacolod may have been hit by the Delta variant as early as June and in July when it experienced a COVID-19 surge, Ang said
But the number of COVID-19 cases in the city has been going down lately, which is a good sign, she said.
The exposure of two Bacolodnons hit by the Delta variant may have been in the month of June, Dr. Chris Sorongon, Bacolod EOC Deputy for Medical Data and Analysis, also said.
COVID-19 cases in Bacolod were at 269 in March, rose to 1,407 in April, 2,215 in May and hit an all-time high of 3,557 in June, and dropped to 2,259 in July, and 475 in August.
In June, Bacolod also averaged two to three deaths per day, Sorongon said.
He attributed the decrease in COVID-19 to the intensified swabbing of all close contacts of COVID-19 positive patients for RT-PCR tests, their immediate quarantine and the city’s mass vaccination drive against the virus.
“It is very unfortunate that this development came about at a time when our coronavirus infections are on a steady decline the past two weeks and our vaccination rollout is going full swing. These are challenging times, indeed, as COVID-19 spread remains unpredictable as experienced also anywhere in the world,” Leonardia said of the detected Delta variant cases.
The first Delta variant positive case in Bacolod is a 71-year-old male resident of Barangay Banago, the mayor said. He was asymptomatic, and was swabbed July 15. Five members of his household also turned out positive with mild symptoms, based on their RT-PCR tests, but none of them were admitted to a hospital, Leonardia said.
The second Delta case is a 32-year-old pregnant woman from Barangay Sum-ag. She was swabbed on July 19, as a requirement for pregnant women at 36 weeks of pregnancy onwards, he said.
She has no travel history and is asymptomatic. Her husband works at a local hospital. He is also asymptomatic and fully vaccinated with Sinovac. Four other household members were asymptomatic as well, he said.
On receiving confirmation from the Department of Health of the Delta positive cases, he immediately ordered localized containment measures/surgical lockdowns of the residential areas in Sum-ag and Banago, where the two patients and their families reside, Leonardia said.
Leonardia assured the public that extensive contact-tracing efforts are being made.
He reminded Bacolod residents that the pandemic is still very much in our midst and they should not let their guard down.
“Let us continue to observe minimum health protocols by wearing face mask and face shield when necessary, avoid crowded places and attending big meetings and social gatherings. Go out only when necessary and always observe physical distancing,” Leonardia said.*