FIRST DELTA CASE. Mayor Jerry Treñas confirms in a media interview on Thursday (July 29, 2021) the first case of the Covid-19 Delta variant in Iloilo City. The workplace and place of residence of the case are now on lockdown to give way to contact tracing and testing. (Photo by Arnold Almacen/City Mayor’s Office)
ILOILO CITY – This highly urbanized city has recorded its first case of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) Delta variant.
The City Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit (CESU) confirmed this during Thursday’s meeting of the local Covid team upon receipt of the results from the Department of Health Epidemiology Bureau via e-mail.
“This is a case who tested positive on July 9, and continues to be positive during repeat testing on July 23,” Mayor Jerry Treñas said in a media interview.
The patient, a 30-year-old male, submitted himself to a reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test at the Western Visayas Medical Center (WVMC) sub-national laboratory (SNL) after experiencing influenza-like illness (ILI). His specimen was sent to the Philippine Genome Center (PGC) for genome sequencing due to its high viral load.
The patient, who works in a company in Molo district, claimed to have no travel history and no contact in his workplace. He has not been vaccinated.
His wife, who was swabbed on July 12, also tested positive. Both are on home quarantine while their three minor children who were tested negative are staying with their relatives.
Also on Thursday, Treñas signed Executive Order 67 placing on surgical lockdown effective immediately the patient’s residence as well as his workplace until August 3, unless extended, for the conduct of extensive contact tracing and testing.
In the order, he said, that the Delta variant was proven to be more contagious compared with other variants as per sufficient scientific data and research.
“As this is a Delta variant case, we will transfer the case to a separate quarantine facility so we can fully monitor him,” he said.
Meanwhile, the city government has committed PHP3 million to the WVMC SNL for them to run genome sequencing.
The mayor met with the WVMC SNL and the University of the Philippines Visayas (UPV) that hosts the Philippine Genome Center (PGC) in its Miagao campus today and talked about the possibility of having the genome sequencing here.
“This morning, we met with the WVMC. They already have the sequencer, they only need consumables,” he said.
He said that the small sequencer of the WVMC can run 90 specimens in 14 hours.
“If eventually, we need to have a permanent sequencer, I think we will need more funds to buy a bigger sequencer,” he added.
He was also informed that the genome center at the UPV has been coordinating with the PGC in Manila. They already have funds to procure the sequencer.
“I think they need two or three months for the procurement,” he added. (PNA)
