The Department of Health (DOH) recorded two deaths among the 35 people who tested positive for the Delta variant of the COVID-19 virus.
"Dito sa Pilipinas, we have a total of 35 individuals detected with the Delta variant. Dalawa sa kanila ay namatay. Yung isa at tiga-MV Athens at yung isa ay tiga-Maynila (In the Philippines, we have a total of 35 individuals detected with the Delta variant. Two of them died. One was from MV Athens, while the other was from Manila)," said DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire in a televised briefing on Saturday, July 17.
Meanwhile, the DOH is still verifying the health status of the COVID-19 patient in Antique who had the said variant.
"Yung isa, vine-verify pa natin, yung tiga-Antique na apparently namatay din. We are getting the complete information so that we can inform the public. Yung isang namatay, hindi pa verified kaya dalawa pa rin po ang nasa talaan natin (We are still verifying the case in Antique who apparently had died. We are getting the complete information so that we can inform the public. We have yet to verify this, so there are still two deaths on our list)," said Vergeire.
In the same briefing, an official of the Western Visayas Center for Health Development said that a COVID-19 patient in Antique with the Delta variant died last May.
“Based sa pinadala na event-based report ng Provincial Health Office ng Antique, itong case number 34 ay namatay last May 31 (Based on the event-based report sent by the Provincial Health Office of Antique, this case number 34 died last May 31),” said Dr. Ma. Sophia Pulmones, Chief of the Western Visayas’ Local Health Support Division.
On Friday, July 16, the DOH confirmed the detection of 16 new cases of Delta variant, including 11 local cases. Of the local cases, two were from Antique.
Meanwhile, Vergeire said that the 32 other cases have already recovered from COVID-19.
“Sa ngayon, we are doing intensive contact tracing among all of these individuals who were positive for the Delta variant. Dito natin makikita kung meron tayong mga link sa bawat kaso at kung saan nag-originate itong mga pagkakasakit na ito (Right now, we are doing intensive contact tracing among all of these individuals who were positive for the Delta variant. With this, we can determine if these cases have links and where did these originate),” she said.