NOTE: THIS STORY WAS FIRST PUBLISHED IN THE BOHOL CHRONICLE’S SUNDAY PRINT EDITION.
Entry ports to the province, both from the air and sea, will be tightly watched amidst the rising cases of Delta variant in the neighboring cities of Cebu and Cagayan de Oro.
Philippine Ports Authority Manager James Gantalao said he already instructed his port police to double- implement health protocol measures at all seaports in the province particularly Tagbilaran and Jagna which are receiving passengers from both Cebu City and Cagayan de Oro City.
As of presstime, 32 Delta variant cases were recorded in Cebu City and 13 in CDO.
Aside from the two ports of entry from Cagayan de Oro City, the seaports of Tubigon, Ubay, Talibon and Getafe will likewise be in close monitoring and checking of arriving passengers.
The PPA manager likewise said that cargo trucks entering the province will be required to have their drivers here take the trucks upon unloading at the ports.
The assurance of the PPA official came after the Department of Health reported active Delta variant cases in Cebu and CDO.
Both Cebu and CDO have their hospitals overwhelmed with COVID patients with some already being attended inside ambulances as their isolation rooms and ICUs are full.
As of yesterday, Gov. Celestino Gallares Memorial Hospital and ACE Medical Center are full in their ICUs.
MANILA FLIGHTS CANCELLED
Starting today, flights to and from Manila will be canceled due to heightened monitoring of the border points in the National Capital Region (NCR).
The three major airlines announced yesterday the cancelation of their flights even before the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) will be implemented in Metro Manila starting August 6.
Philippine Airlines canceled their daily flight starting August 2 until August 20, while Cebu Pacific flights will be canceled starting today until Aug 5.
Meanwhile, AirAsia will cancel its flights on certain days only.
Normal flights of AirAsia will continue on August 1 to 5, 8, 10, 12, 15, 17 and 19.
COVID DEATHS ROSE TO 199
The headcount of deaths rose to 199 as of 9 o’clock yesterday morning, according to the Bohol Inter-Agency task Force.
BIATF spokesman, Dr. Yul Lopez however said that there are none of the fatalities whom they could pinpoint as affected by the Delta variant.
Earlier, Dr. Lopez said that “symptoms presentation . . . we can not really tell offhand because it’s quite similar to the usual strain”. He said doctors will start to suspect this fast spreader Delta variant once there is a sudden “spike and clustering” of positive COVID-19 cases in a particular community. He said upon contact tracing we can identify an index case who usually is returning from abroad.
Meanwhile, total active cases as of yesterday totaled 693 with Tagbilaran City topping the list with 94 cases.
The top 10 municipalities are: Calape 43, Dauis 41, San Miguel 35, Maribojoc 33, Uaby 28, Carmen 28, Inabanga 25 and Trinidad 24. Panglao 19 and Corella 18.
Of the 693 active cases, 260 are mild, 229 asymptomatic, 167, N/C, 27 moderate and 10 severe.
CEBU’S CASE
The Department of Health in Central Visayas (DOH-7) on Thursday confirmed that 32 cases of COVID-19 in Cebu are Delta variants.
According to DOH-7’s Jaime Bernadas, 19 of the cases are residents of Lapu-Lapu City, six from Cebu City, three from Mandaue City, two from Cordova, and two from Samboan.
Bernadas said health experts believed that the presence of the more transmissible Delta variant caused the surge in COVID-19 cases in Cebu.
“It (results from the Philippine Genome Center) really validated what we thought caused the increase in the number of cases and the fast transmission in the past three weeks,” he said.
Most of these 32 Cebuanos, he said, have already recovered while some were on their way to recovery.
They underwent swab tests from July 2 to 10, samples were since sent to the Philippine Genome Center (PGC).
Bernadas believed there has already been local transmission of the Delta variant in Cebu but
they need to validate it first.
CDO’s CASE
Despite being under the rigid enhanced community quarantine, a family of 7 in Cagayan de Oro City is confirmed to be infected with the COVID-19 Delta variant.
An entire family of seven, including grandparents, were isolated in Cagayan de Oro last Thursday, after they were found infected with the virulent Delta variant of COVID-19.
The family that included a 62-year-old grandfather and his 57-year-old wife were immediately placed under isolation in an undisclosed temporary treatment and monitoring facility (TTMF) in Cagayan de Oro.
Mayor Oscar Moreno immediately ordered health officials to check if the highly infectious Delta variant had spread to the neighbors of the family in Barangay Balulang.
Moreno said if they found that the deadly variant had spread, he would order a granular lockdown in Barangay Balulang to stop it from further spreading.
“This is sufficient warning that local transmissions are taking place,” Moreno said.
Aside from the family in Balulang, the city health office also found another Delta variant case in Barangay Canitoan.
Dr. Ted Yu of the Cagayan de Oro health office said this brought the number of Delta variant carriers in the city to 13, including the five cases discovered two weeks ago.