4 cases of COVID-19 Delta variant recorded in Benguet

(FILE) PROPER DISTANCE Adequate spacing between doctors and patients is observed at an outdoor triage station at Benguet General Hospital in La Trinidad, Benguet, where patients with a history of travel to areas with confirmed COVID-19 cases are initially checked. —Karlston Lapniten

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet — The Department of Health (DOH) confirmed on Saturday, August 28, that there are already four cases of COVID-19 Delta variant in the province of Benguet which prompted Benguet Governor Melchor Daguines Diclas to ask the Health Cluster of the Provincial Inter-Agency Task Force (PIATF) for COVID-19 to strengthen the province’s defense system against the virus.

The DOH confirmed that two of the said cases are from La Trinidad and one each from Buguias and Tuba. The case from Buguias (34-year-old male) and one from La Trinidad (32-year-old male) are still recovering while one has already recovered and the other died.

The fatality is a 56-year-old male from La Trinidad who was admitted to a local hospital on August 7 and was reported dead on August 12.

Contact tracing for the said cases are now ongoing.

Meanwhile, over the past few days, the Provincial Health Office (PHO) has noticed a doubling of COVID-19 cases in the province.

On August 27, there were 90 new cases reported, bringing the total number of active cases in the province to 605.

Due to the surge, the bed capacity of hospitals in Benguet is at 85 percent full capacity.

Diclas already called a meeting for the members of the Benguet PIATF for September 1 to further discuss COVID-19 response.

Benguet remains under modified general community quarantine until September 7.

/MUF