Rodriguez upbeat CDO can stop surge of COVID-19 amid Delta-variant cases
House Deputy Speaker Rufus Rodriguez on Wednesday, July 21, expressed optimism that Cagayan de Oro would be able to beat the surge of coronavirus (COVID-19) cases in the city.

The Cagayan De Oro City Representative welcomed the team of the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) on the Management of Emerging Infectious Disease and the Department of Health (DOH) that arrived to check on the spike of COVID-19 cases in the city.
According to the lawmaker, four of the five Delta variant-infected persons in Cagayan de Oro who had previously recovered from the infection have tested positive again, along with one person from Misamis Oriental, which the city is part of.
“Five of the eight reinfections are from our area. That shows the severity of the situation there, which has prompted the IATF to impose the strictest quarantine restriction in Cagayan de Oro,” Rodriguez said.
“Their visit is timely since we have Delta variant cases in Cagayan de Oro. They can advise city officials and local health authorities on what to do to stop the spread of this variant and Covid-19,” he said.
Rodriguez also welcomed the arrival of 20,550 doses of Johnson & Johnson that in the city. The solon earlier requested for more vaccines in his city to enable them to vaccinate at least 5,000 residents a day.
Cagayan de Oro, he said, is targeting to inoculate 70 percent of its 700,000 population by the end of the year. Vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez has promised to send to the city thousands of doses of the newly arrived Johnson and Johnson vaccine donated by the United States.
“With this pronouncement of Secretary (Carlito) Galvez, we expect more and more vaccines to be allocated to CDO. And we thank Sec Galvez for this”, Rodriguez said, adding that more than 66,000 residents have already received their first dose, while about 32,000 have been fully inoculated.
The DOH on Tuesday warned of possible community transmission of the more contagious Delta variant of the COVID-19 as it detected 11 persons who have not traveled abroad infected by it.