MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews / 19 August) – This city, the capital of Bukidnon province, has recorded its first Delta variant of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the City Health Office (CHO) confirmed Thursday.
This was the second confirmed case of COVID-19 Delta variant in Bukidnon, after Talakag town involving a returning overseas worker last month.
Dr. Dennis Sangalang, CHO head, said in an interview over RMN-DXMB Malaybalay that the first Delta variant case in Malaybalay involved a female from Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental who travelled to visit her relatives in Barangay San Martin here last July 20.
She went to Malaybalay on board a passenger bus, he said.
Following local health safety protocols, the woman was brought for testing at the Enhanced Screening Area in Barangay 4, Freedom Park here.
She was tested positive and brought to an isolation facility. She recovered and was released on August 1.
Sangalang said they randomly picked and sent the specimen of the female COVID-19 patient for genome sequencing at the University of the Philippines in Manila.
The results came out on August 15 with the Department of Health – Region 10 (DOH-10) announcing it was the Delta variant of COVID-19.
Sangalang said that a re-swabbing was conducted for her while her 11 family members here were also tested. The results were not known as of posting.
He added that contract tracing was still ongoing for the second and third generation contacts of the Delta variant patient.
Sangalang urged the public to continue following the minimum health safety protocols especially that the Delta Variant of COVID-19 was recorded in Malaybalay through the female visitor from Tagoloan.
The DOH-10 earlier confirmed that Tagoloan has also recorded one case of COVID-19 Delta variant. (MindaNews)
