Iloilo City now has Delta variant of COVID-19

Iloilo 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 today’s (July 29, 2021) 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 today, 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.
Genome Sequencing in Iloilo City

Meanwhile, the city government has committed P3 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 Miag-ao campus today and talked about the possibility of having the genome sequencing.

“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 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.* (Perla Lena, PNA)