Baguio variant cases now 162; protocols tightened

CITY HALL BEAT

Aileen P. Refuerzo

BAGUIO CITY – A total of 162 new variant cases of Covid-19 have been detected in the city, including the six Delta variant patients as of Sept. 2.
    Mayor Benjamin Magalong said there were 107 with the Alpha variant, 49 with Beta and six Delta.
    The mayor said link analysis and information gathered through in-depth contact tracing identified a total of 4,521 patients linked to the variant cases.
    A total of 3,378 were linked to the Alpha variant cases while 881 were connected to the Beta variant cases.
    The six Delta variant cases had 262 links identified so far.
    These contacts are now the subject of close monitoring and back tracing efforts in an effort to halt the spread of the new and more transmissible variants.
    The World Health Organization recently confirmed that the Delta is now the dominant variant in the country with community transmission now occurring in various parts of the country.
    Magalong who waged an early preparation in the city for a worst-case scenario said the city has been keeping at its contingency action plan which includes border restrictions, expansion of isolation and quarantine facilities and building buffer stocks of medicines, oxygen and other hospital essentials.
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Following these, Mayor Magalong has further tightened the city's protocols to keep the current spike in Covid-19 cases under control.
    This is part of the contingency measures and systems which the city put in place ahead of the expected surge driven by the dangerous Delta variant.
    The mayor said that although the situation has remained manageable, the city needed to expand restrictions to prevent spread of the virus from getting out of hand.
    Last Sept. 2, he issued executive order 106 series of 2021 which suspended non-essential travels from all areas regardless of quarantine classification to take effect from Sept. 3 to 19.
    He also ordered the adjustment of the modified liquor ban hours so that starting Sept. 3, the ban on sale and consumption of liquor and other alcoholic beverages was from 8 p.m. to 12 noon of the following day.
     The order also extended the home restrictions for the 17 years old and below age group.
     The mayor said that from July, the city has had a 30 percent increase in its confirmed cases with an 85 percent hike in cases among persons aged 17 years old and below.
     Since the third week of August, the city has been registering an average of 87 cases daily with case clustering recorded in households and workplaces.
     All these amid confirmation of a local transmission of the Delta variant cases, now said to be the dominant variant in the country.
     "There is a need to impose additional restrictions to halt widespread community transmission and to enable our response and action teams to regroup for better offensive against this continuing health threat," the mayor said.
     The mayor who spearheaded the city's early preparations against the Delta variant had earlier warned that Delta's impact will be greater and longer than that of the Alpha and Beta variants given its more transmissible and more virulent nature.