Cotabato province’s 1st Delta variant carrier traveled from Cagayan de Oro

Cotabato province’s health officials on Thursday, September 2, confirmed the first documented case of COVID-19’s more transmissible Delta variant in the province. Over two dozen people were exposed to the carrier.

The carrier had traveled to Cagayan de Oro City which registered the most Delta variant cases in Mindanao.

Provincial health officer Dr. Eva Rabaya said the carrier is a male resident of Aleosan town.

Rabaya said local officials learned about the Delta variant-infected elderly man on Wednesday, September 1, after the Department of Health regional office released the results of a genome sequencing test.

She said the patient tested positive for COVID-19 in July and was subsequently released from a quarantine facility after he was certified recovered.

The Delta variant test result, however, prompted local health officials to make the man undergo another quarantine while he is being observed.

Rabaya said health workers have identified 25 people who had close contact with the elderly patient – all of them quarantined and being tested.

She said they were still finding out how and where the patient got infected. 

Rabaya said the investigation showed that the man traveled to Cagayan de Oro, a city overwhelmed by a surge in COVID-19, including Delta variant infections.

Cotabato Governor Nancy Catamco appealed to residents to refrain from unnecessary travel or movement and to avoid crowding.

“Better stay at home if there is nothing important to do outside,” she said.

The province has logged 888 new cases, which bring to 7,933 the number of total cases in Cotabato province since the pandemic struck last year.

The province ranks third after General Santos and South Cotabato in terms of the highest number of COVID-19 infections in the Soccsksargen region. – Rappler.com

Rommel Rebollido is a Mindanao-based journalist and an awardee of the Aries Rufo Journalism Fellowship