DOH confirms ‘local transmission’ of COVID-19 Omicron in Ilocos

Healthcare workers in Ilocos Sur’s capital city of Vigan conduct contact tracing as COVID-19 continues to spread in the area. | PHOTO: Vigan City government

LAOAG CITY, Ilocos Norte—The Department of Health (DOH) in the Ilocos region confirmed Wednesday, Feb. 9, the “local transmission” of the highly contagious COVID-19 Omicron variant.

In a television interview, Dr. Rheuel Bobis, COVID-19 focal person for the regional DOH, said most of the 88 Omicron cases tallied in the region were residents with no travel history outside of the region.

Of the 88 cases, 26 each had been traced to the provinces of Ilocos Norte and La Union, followed by 19 in Pangasinan, 11 in Ilocos Sur, and six in Dagupan City.

At least 73 of the cases were residents, while 15 were returning overseas Filipino residents, according to local data.

The regional DOH said all the Omicron cases were strictly isolated before the release of the results of their genome sequencing.

Although initial research showed that Omicron is “milder,” Bobis still warned that it could result in “severe and critical” effects, especially to senior citizens and the unvaccinated.

As the number of Delta variant cases rose, Bobis noted that Delta was still the “dominant” variant in the region, representing 58 percent of the total 669 COVID-19 variants traced.

Bobis said the number of COVID-19 cases in the region had started to “decline” after it peaked in the third week of January, with average daily COVID-19 cases of 766 from 944 in previous weeks.

During the first week of February, the average daily cases went down to 462, local data showed.

As of Wednesday, the Ilocos region has 9,247 active COVID-19 cases, of which 96.5 percent were mild.

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