No community transmission yet of Delta variant in PH

THERE IIS  no community transmission yet of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) Delta variant in the country, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said on Friday.

"There is already local transmission. (As for community transmission), we cannot be definitive about it because of the limited genomic sequencing. But of course, we must assume there is already transmission. That is what is important and should guide intensification of our pandemic response using PDITR (Prevent-Detect-Isolate-Treat-Reintegrate) plus vaccination strategy," Duque on the sidelines of the arrival of one million government-procured Sinovac vaccines at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3.

Duque's remarks came a day after the country logged 97 more cases of the Delta variant, bringing the country’s total case count of the more infectious coronavirus variant to 216.

Also on Friday, the government placed Metro Manila under the strictest enhanced community quarantine from Aug. 6 to 20 to arrest the spread of the Delta variant.

Community transmission occurs when many people who don't have any known contact with a patient get infected with the disease.

Duque, meanwhile, said the country will continue to have a steady supply of Covid-19 vaccines as over 3.4 million doses of jabs are set to arrive on the first week of August,

"Merong Aug. 3, three million Moderna vaccines (Three million Moderna vaccines will arrive on Aug. 3). Aug. 2 we will have AZ (AstraZeneca), 450,000 doses," Duque said.

The three million doses of the US-made jabs are from the US government through the COVAX Facility while the 450,000 doses of AstraZeneca jabs will be donated by the United Kingdom.

Duque also said the bulk of the newly-arrived Sinovac vaccines will be deployed to the 'NCR Plus', composed of Metro Manila, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal, while the rest will be dispatched to cities tagged as high-risk areas.

Also identified as priority areas for vaccines deployment are Metro Cebu, Metro Davao, Batangas, and Pampanga. ( Priam Nepomuceno)