BAGUIO CITY – The city logs the new high single-day of 411 cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) due the local transmission of Delta variant.
Mayor Benjamin Magalong said the high tally was caused by "dumping of results" after swab test results accumulated due to the volume of specimens being processed daily.
Magalong said more than 2,000 tests are now being conducted daily as a result of the surge in cases.
“Because of the Delta variant, the city made it mandatory to swab all close contacts. Aggressive community testing is also being done continually.”
He said, based on the data and circumstances obtaining in the city, the Delta variant appeared to have displaced the other variants in dominance in the city.
From September 1 to 7, the city was recording more than 100 cases daily but a different trend was seen starting September 8 when cases at over 200 daily started to be logged.
The first 18 days of the months has logged a total of 3,808 cases and 82 deaths. In total, the city has 2,965 active cases.
Since 2020, Baguio has logged 21,309 Covid-19 cases with 17,919 recoveries and 425 deaths.
The Philippine Genome Center reported that there are 20 cases of the Delta variant in the city.
“Delta variant may now be the dominant variant driving the current COVID-19 case surge in the city.
Magalong said, “The latest developments and data indicators also point to the high probability of the Delta variant's transmissions prevalence now in the city."
Based on contact tracing and link analysis data of the city, there is a possibility that about 700 are Delta variant carriers, reason the city is expecting cases to further surge in the coming days.
“We are watching out for more cases in households and workplaces where clustering of cases are happening. We continue to ask for observance of health and safety protocols and for companies to limit their workforce."