DAVAO CITY – The Department of Health (DOH) Caraga confirmed on Monday its first coronavirus (COVID-19) Delta variant case in the region, a 26 year-old woman who had traveled to Manila.
According to the DOH report, the patient traveled to the the National Capital Region (NCR) last July 10, 2021. DOH Caraga Infectious Cluster Head Dr. Maria Grace Leopardas said the patient an OFW who went to process her papers in Manila before heading back to Caraga by land travel.
The report said the patient underwent a mandatory RT-PCR test on August 2 and tested positive 3 days thereafter.
Although the result from the University of the Philippines – Philippine Genome Center (UP-PGC) came out one month after the specimens were submitted, Leopardas assured the public that they are doing all their efforts in conducting contact tracing, case finding and isolation to prevent the spread of this highly transmittable COVID variant.
The first case is reportedly asymptomatic while the first generation close contacts are all tested negative, she added.
“I hope that’s the only Delta variant in our Region. We can choose whether to see it in a negative or positive way but I want to be positive and hope that there will be no other delta variant cases in Caraga,” Leopardas said on Monday over a radio program.
It can be recalled that Caraga was the only region in the Philippines that had no delta cases as announced by the DOH last August.
