THE DELTA variant is slowly creeping into Zamboanga City as the number of active Covid-19 cases are climbing again.
Mayor Beng Climaco has repeatedly appealed to residents not to be complacent as the local government continues to battle and control the spread of the deadly respiratory disease. She said Covid-19 poses a grave risk to everyone, especially now that the country is struggling to fight the Delta variant, the most contagious among all variants to date.
She said Zamboanga City now has a total of six cases of Delta variant after five more were added last month after the Philippine Genome Center released its report on hundreds of local genome sequences of Covid-19.
“The Philippine Genome Center through the Department of Health Regional Office confirmed five new cases of the highly contagious Delta variant in Zamboanga City, per results released on August 28, 2021 bringing the total count of cases to six. A total of 804 samples were sent for genome sequencing since March of this year,” the mayor said.
Based on the data from the City Health Office, all six cases of Delta variant in Zamboanga City have already recovered. There are now over 100 cases of Covid-19 here.
But despite repeated warnings to strictly follow the health protocols, local authorities continue to reprimand or apprehend hundreds of violators every day. Many of those apprehended were not wearing face masks or face shields while in public places and people who attended mass gatherings or “super spreader events” which are prohibited by the local government.
The Barangay Sita Task Force (BSTF) in different barangays have done little to help the local government and authorities in enforcing the health protocols and quarantine guidelines. Most of the BSTF members go on random patrol, many during Sunday lockdown when there are less people on the streets, and not every day where the violations of public health protocols are rampant.
Climaco reminded the public that the fight against Covid-19 is not of the government alone and their cooperation is vital in controlling the spread of the virus in their households and communities.
“This is a personal battle between staying safe from getting infected with the virus. It is up to each and every one of us to ensure the safety of everybody, the safety of our family members and that is why it is important to follow the strict health protocols by always wearing our face mask and face shield and observed physical distance at public places,” she said.
The mayor said the emergence of the Delta variant is scaring health experts around the world because it is more virulent than all known Covid-19 variants at this time. “It has become the dominant variant in many countries, including the neighboring Indonesia and Malaysia and we don’t want it to spread here and that’s why we are doubling our efforts to vaccinate the people to prevent serious illness that needs hospitalization,” she said.
“As we are thankful that we are now under GCQ, we really need to maintain our Covid protocols to continue lowering the cases. We need to exert more effort,” she added, referring to personal health responsibilities of each resident to help fight or control the spread of the virus.
“Our death toll and the daily positive cases are not a sign for us to relax. It is a sign for us to continue to cooperate, to strengthen our safety measures, self-regulate and self-discipline. All our frontliners have dedicated and poured out their efforts to keep you safe. It’s about time that we cooperate,” the mayor further said.
Border guards also intercepted or stopped dozens of travellers trying to enter Zamboanga City without health requirements such as RT-PCR test and S-PASS which are required under Climaco’s executive order. (Zamboanga Post)
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