KALIBO, Aklan – Twenty-one new Delta variant cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was recorded in Aklan, according to the Department of Health (DOH), citing the results of the genomic sequencing conducted by the Philippine Genome Center.
Five cases were from Kalibo town, three from Numancia, and two each from Madalag, Malinao, Banga, Ibajay, and New Washington. Makato, Nabas and Tangalan recorded one case each.
One case died. The rest recovered, according to DOH.
The Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is more transmissible.
Backtracking of the cases’ close contacts has started.
Aklan also detected one Alpha variant (B.1.1.7) case of COVID-19, four Beta variant (B.1.351) cases and three Theta variant (P.3) cases as of August 18.
Also, according to DOH, Aklan has a 1.48 percent COVID-19 case fatality rate (CFR), lower than the national CFR of 1.74 percent and Region 6’s 2.40 percent.
There were clustering of cases, too, from Aug. 7 to August 20 in Kalibo (176), Banga (110), Makato (65), New Washington (62), Numancia (58), Batan (54), Altavas (52), Malay (46), Ibajay (44), and Malinao (40).
Aklan is still at COVID-19 Alert Level 3 along with the provinces of Capiz and Antique, while the provinces of Iloilo and Guimaras, and Iloilo City are under Alert Level 4.
Western Visayas has 96,962 confirmed cases with 2,330 deaths and 10,973 active infections as of Aug. 22./PN
