Central Visayas remains Delta-free

The Department of Health (DoH-7) on Tuesday assured that Central Visayas is Delta variant-free.

“Presently, we haven’t found any confirmed cases of Delta variant in Region 7. Although these were reported in other regions but for now, our region remains free from any Delta variant,” said DoH-7 regional director Dr. Jaime Bernadas.

However, Bernadas said they are conducting continued bio-surveillance program in order to detect variants of concern here, including the Delta variant or also tagged as B.617.2.

Our region remains free from any Delta variant.

A total of 978 swab samples from Covid-19 patients in Central Visayas have been sent to the Philippine Genome Center to check if they were infected with the Delta variant.

Only 101 samples returned and all tested negative of such variant.

Most of the specimens tested positive for the P.3 mutation or Theta variant which first surfaced in Central Visayas.

The rest were B.1.1.7 or U.K variant and B.1.351 or South African variant.

As of 19 July, there are 9,311 active cases in Central Visayas.

On the same day, 365 additional cases were recorded of which 120 came from Cebu City and 104 from Bohol.

Meanwhile, Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Junard Chan urged senior citizens in the city to avail of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

He said the city has received 6,400 doses of the single-shot, US-made vaccine.

The inoculation will be conducted in five vaccination sites in the city — city auditorium in Barangay Poblacion, Hoops Dome in Barangay Gun-ob, Island Central Mall in Barangay Ibo, Mactan Newtown in Barangay Mactan and the new site at the Waterfront Airport Hotel and Casino.