21 of local Delta cases found at PGH, says official

Facade of the UP – Philippine General Hospital. Image from the PGH website

MANILA, Philippines — Twenty-one of the 72 local cases of the highly transmissible Delta variant of COVID-19 were either admitted or were tested at the Philippine General Hospital (PGH), one of its officials said Wednesday.

Dr. Regina Berba, head of the PGH Infection Control Unit, assured however that there was no outbreak of COVID-19 at the hospital despite the detection of the variant.

“Among the Delta cases that have been reported by the DOH, we’ve seen 21 of those cases were actually seen at the PGH. Over the last several days, we’ve been informed by the DOH (Department of Health) of the patients who ended up having confirmed Delta variants,” she said in an online media briefing hosted by OCTA Research and Blueprint.ph.

“But I would like to assure you that despite the high number of Delta exposure at PGH, we really have had no COVID-19 outbreaks so far,” she added.

Close to 300 close contacts of the Delta cases have been evaluated and were tested, according to Berba. She also said that some of the patients were already discharged.

In a text message to INQUIRER.net, PGH spokesperson Dr. Jonas Del Rosario said that eight of the 21 patients were admitted to the hospital. Of the eight patients, two have died, five have recovered, and one is recovering.

Meanwhile, 13 of the cases were not admitted at PGH. Of the 13, eight are outpatients who have availed of PGH’s services and five are healthcare workers at the hospital.

The DOH has so far confirmed a total of 119 cases of the Delta variant from returning overseas Filipinos and those that were tagged as local cases.

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