Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 24) — An OCTA Research fellow on Thursday warned of a devastating impact on the country’s medical system if the more transmissible Delta variant spreads locally.
“Sakaling pumasok siya, dudurugin niya ho talaga yung ating healthcare system po…Biglang tataas yung number of new cases ho kasi napaka-infectious niya,” OCTA Research fellow Ranjit Rye said in a media briefing, referring to the Delta variant first detected in India.
[Translation: In case this enters our border, it will crush our healthcare system. Our new cases will suddenly soar because it is extremely infectious.]
This is why there is no room for complacency, Rye stressed.
He said there is a need to accelerate the pace of COVID-19 vaccination and continue enforcing strict border controls as well as strengthen testing, contact tracing, and isolation strategies to prevent the transmission of this variant. In anticipation of possible spikes in case counts due to Delta, COVID-19 treatment facilities should be “upgraded,” he said.
He also urged people, even vaccinated individuals, to follow the minimum health standards.
He added company owners must ensure safe workplaces.
The Delta variant is around 60% more contagious than the Alpha variant first detected in the United Kingdom, according to a British study.
Alpha carries the N501Y mutation, which appears to make the coronavirus easier to spread than the original SARS-CoV-2 first found in Wuhan, China.
The Delta variant may also escape from weak neutralizing antibodies, Dr. Eva Maria Cutiongco-de la Paz, executive director of the University of the Philippines-National Institutes of Health earlier said.
More people are likely to be hospitalized due to this variant, based on preliminary studies, she added.
The country has so far recorded 17 Delta variant cases.
