OCTA Research fellow Dr. Guido David called for the strict enforcement of international travel protocols to prevent the transmission of the Delta variant of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the country.

He noted that the more transmissible Delta variant, which was first identified in India, could pose a huge threat to the Philippines as it may lead to another surge in cases.

"(We have to) maintain (our local) border controls especially our international travel protocols. Ang mahalaga yung Delta variant hindi makapasok dito dahil malaking threat siya sa ibang bansa (The important thing is that the Delta variant cannot enter our country because it has been a big threat in other countries," David said in a PTV interview on Monday, June 21.

"Kung magkaroon ng community transmission magkakasurge tayo na baka mas malala pa sa nakita nating surge noong March (If we have community transmission, we will have a surge that may be even worse than the surge we saw in March)," he added.

David noted that COVID-19 cases in Metro Manila continue to go down due to the implementation of strict quarantine restrictions since March.

He said the vaccination rollout has also attributed to the lower number of new cases.

"Yung vaccination rollout, although marami na rin ang 8 million, pero ang inaasahan natin mas marami pa. Pero malaking tulong yan kasi marami na tayong nabakunahan na frontliners at malaking tulong sa laban against pandemic (The vaccination rollout, although there are already 8 million, we are still expecting more. But that is a big help in our fight against the pandemic because we have vaccinated many frontliners)," David said.

"Yung A2 (seniors) natin marami-rami na ring ang nabakunahan natin. Because of that nagdedecrease na yung severe cases natin sa mga regions na marami ng nabakunahan (Many of our A2s have also been vaccinated. Because of that our severe cases are declining in regions where many have been vaccinated)," he added.