Surigao del Sur still free of COVID-19 Delta variant – local health office

BAROBO, Surigao del Sur, Philippines — The entire province is so far free of the COVID-19 Delta variant, according to a statement issued on Saturday by the Provincial Health Office.

This followed a report from the Department of Health (DOH) in the Caraga region about a 26-year-old woman in this town whose swab sample showed she was infected with the Delta variant based on the result of genome sequencing.

The unvaccinated woman returned here from a trip to Metro Manila last July 10.

After the genome sequencing result was known, the woman was placed under quarantine again. She then had another RT-PCR test that yielded a negative result.

Her first-generation close contacts were also identified, quarantined, and swabbed for an RT-PCR test. All the contacts yielded negative results.

In a separate statement, Barobo municipal government’s COVID-19 response unit said the Barobo woman who had tested positive for the Delta variant was not necessarily in town during her “infectious period.”

“Do not worry, we remain safe from Delta,” the statement added.

Last Aug. 16, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in an online media briefing that all regions in the country had Delta variant cases except the Caraga Region.

She clarified that the three Filipinos from overseas who were earlier reported to be infected with the Delta variant were not local cases.

Despite the absence of the Delta variant in the region, Caraga health officials were not about to let their guard down.

“With the inevitable threat of the Delta variant and other variants of concern, we are escalating our efforts to speed up the vaccination program especially to our most vulnerable population”, said Dr. Cesar C. Cassion, chief of the Caraga office of the Department of Health.

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