ILOILO CITY – The Department of Health (DOH) announced 31 new cases of the Delta variant of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the Western Visayas region.
In a statement, the DOH Region 6 confirmed that the 31 new cases of the Delta variant are local transmissions.
This was after the Philippine Genome Center (PGC) at the University of the Philippines (UP Diliman) released Friday the new findings.
Of the 31 new cases of Delta variant found in the region, the most cases are in Antique with 19. There were also seven new cases found in Iloilo, three cases in Iloilo City, and two cases in Capiz.
This now brings the total number of Delta variant cases in Western Visayas to 37.
With the 31 new cases, the DOH Region 6 has been closely coordinating with the local government units where the new cases were found. Rigid contact tracing and testing of the contacts are being conducted.
As of Aug. 6, Iloilo City is still under Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) status while Aklan and Iloilo are under Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine (MECQ) due to high cases of COVID-19.
In particular, there has been a significant jump in COVID-19 cases in Aklan over the past week with cases nearly averaging 100 new cases per day.