BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson urged Negros Occidental residents to prepare for the possible entry of the more transmissible Delta variant of the virus causing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
“It is quite alarming,” he said.
On July 16, Department of Health (DOH) Region 6 director Adriano Suba-an confirmed that two senior citizens – a couple from Pandan, Antique – tested positive for the Delta variant. The wife passed away while the husband recovered.
“We have to be prepared as far as our hospital services are concerned,” said Lacson.
The variant, first detected in India, has been blamed as a key factor for a surge in cases not only elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific but also in the United Kingdom.
Lacson said the DOH regional office lauded the province’s One Hospital system, although they were advised to further strengthen their coordination with DOH.
The Delta variant, also known as B.1.617.2, can spread more easily, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of the United States.
The strain has mutations on the spike protein that make it easier for it to infect human cells. That means people may be more contagious if they contract the virus and more easily spread it to others.
Researchers have said the Delta variant is about 50 percent more contagious than the Alpha variant, which was first identified in the United Kingdon, according to the Washington Post.
Alpha, also known as B.1.1.7, was already 50 percent more contagious than the original coronavirus first identified in China in 2019.
Public health experts estimate that the average person who gets infected with Delta spreads it to three or four other people, as compared with one or two other people through the original coronavirus strain, according to Yale Medicine.
The Delta variant may also be able to escape protection from vaccines and some COVID-19 treatments, though studies are still ongoing./PN
