An infectious disease expert said Wednesday (July 21) that the highly contagious COVID-19 Delta variant may now be spreading locally in the country.
“There are those cases na hindi related doon sa returning OFWs (overseas Filipino workers). There are what we call local cases, and with that demographs, then I would say mukhang mayroong local transmission ang Delta variant,” Dr. Rontgene Solante said.
The Department of Health (DOH), however, said they have yet to confirm whether a local transmission is already taking place based on evidence.
“There are local cases; however, we still cannot declare local transmission as there is no evidence yet to support that one case was infected by a local case,” DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a statement.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said the government is currently monitoring the situation, and urged the public to get vaccinated against the disease.
As of July 21 afternoon, the Philippines has already received 27,922,360 vaccine doses. It is expecting 562,770 Pfizer doses tonight, 1.5 million CoronaVac doses on July 22, and a million doses on July 23.
Meanwhile, the Palace said they have yet to issue a decision on the recommendation of Metro Manila mayors to reverse its previous policy allowing kids outdoors.
“Ang alam ko po, nag-meeting na ang mga dalubhasa. Nagkaroon sila ng recommendation, pero sa Huwebes po gagawin ang IATF (Inter-Agency Task Force) meeting tungkol dito sa bagay na ito,” Roque said. – Report from Mela Lesmoras/AG- jlo
Watch full report here:
