This file photo shows a health worker performing a swab test on clients at Philippine Red Cross in Mandaluyong City on Thursday, September 23. INQUIRER/GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE
CEBU CITY — The Department of Health in Central Visayas (DOH-7) on Thursday confirmed that 32 cases of COVID-19 in Cebu are Delta variant.
According to DOH-7’s Jaime Bernadas, 19 of the cases are residents of Lapu-Lapu City, six from Cebu City, three from Mandaue City, two from Cordova, and two from Samboan.
Bernadas said health experts believed that the presence of the more transmissible Delta variant caused the surge in COVID-19 cases in Cebu.
“It (results from the Philippine Genome Center) really validated what we thought caused the increase in the number of cases and the fast transmission in the past three weeks,” he said.
Most of these 32 Cebuanos, he said, have already recovered while some were on their way to recovery.
They underwent swab tests from July 2 to 10, which samples were since sent to the Philippine Genome Center (PGC).
Bernadas believed there has already been local transmission of the Delta variant in Cebu but they need to validate it first.