MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) has advised the Manila City government, as well as other local government units, that for now there is no need to impose widespread lockdowns in areas affected by the highly infectious Delta variant of COVID-19, and that granular lockdowns may suffice.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said Monday that the Delta variant cases in Manila are “manageable” since the local government unit was implementing an effective Prevent-Detect-Isolate-Treat-Reintegrate (PDITR) strategy against the spread of coronavirus.
“Noong lumabas ‘yung detection na ito, kinausap natin ang local government officials sa iba’t ibang lugar at tiningnan natin ang estado sa kanilang mga kaso. Nakita natin specifically for the City of Manila, their cases are manageable,” Vergeire told ABS-CBN’s Teleradyo.
(When we detected these cases, we spoke with local government officials in different areas and we looked at the status of their cases. We saw that cases are manageable, specifically for the City of Manila.)
“Nakikita po natin that they are doing effective PDITR response so ang ating guidance kina Yorme (Mayor Isko Moreno), sabi natin, sige initially let’s do granular lockdowns muna sa areas affected sa inyong lugar and then we will assess everyday so we can see if we need to heighten the restrictions at kung kailangan na nga bang magkaroon ulit ng NCR Plus bubble,” she added.
(We saw that they are doing effective PDITR response so our guidance to Mayor Isko is to implement granular lockdowns in affected areas and we will assess everyday if we need to heighten restrictions and if we need to have the NCR Plus bubble again.)
The country has so far confirmed a total of 35 cases of the Delta variant, including the latest 16 new cases announced by the DOH last Friday. Of the 16 cases, five are from returning overseas Filipinos and 11 were detected locally or in communities.
Vergeire said the 11 cases are composed of two in Antique, five in Cagayan de Oro, one in Misamis Oriental, and three in the City of Manila.
Additionally, the Taguig Safe City Task Force head Clarence Santos said on Sunday that a case of the Delta variant was also detected in Taguig. It was not immediately clear if the case in the city is already counted among the new cases announced by the DOH. The DOH has also yet to confirm the Delta case in Taguig.
Local government units in areas where the local cases were detected are conducting a “back tracing” up to the third generation close contacts of the positive cases.