97 New Delta Cases Detected; Duterte Wants Unvaccinated Escorted To Their Homes

Ninety-seven new cases of the highly transmissible Delta variant were detected by the Philippine Genome Center (PGC), bringing the total to 216 nationwide, the Department of Health (DOH) said Thursday, July 29.

The DOH said the PGC also found 83 more cases of the Alpha variant, 127 new Beta variant cases and 22 more of the P.3 variant.

It said that of the 97 new Delta variant cases, 94 have already been tagged as recovered while three died.

Also, 88 are local cases or those who do not have a history of travel abroad, six are returning overseas Filipinos while the remaining three are being verified if they are local patients or ROFs.

Among the ROFs, two are seafarers from MT Clyde and barge Claudia currently docked off Albay and four are crewmembers of MV Vega that arrived from Indonesia.

Data showed that of the 97 new cases, 32 are in Central Visayas; 25 in the National Capital Region; 10 in Eastern Visayas; six each in Central Luzon and Calabarzon; three in Western Visayas; two in Davao region, and one in Ilocos.

Read More: DOH: Still No Delta Surge In NCR

Other variants

The DOH said the 83 new Alpha variant cases raised to 1,858 the total cases nationwide with 68 of them being local cases and 15 others still being verified.

The case line list indicated that 82 of the new cases have been tagged as recovered. The outcomes of 13 other cases are still being verified.

For the Beta variant, the 127 new cases push the total nationwide to 2,146 with 106 of these cases identified as local and 21 still under verification.

Of the new cases, the DOH said one remains active, three have died and 121 recovered. A total of 29 outcomes were still being verified.

The DOH said that of the additional 22 P.3 variants detected, 10 are local cases while 12 were under verification. Seven have recovered while the outcomes of 15 cases remain unverified.

Protocols

The DOH stressed that it is “imperative for LGUs (local government unites) to immediately crush clusters of infection and observed increases in cases in their respective jurisdictions to reduce (further) transmission.”

It said this could be done through “active case finding, shortening the detection to isolation/quarantine interval to less than five days, tracing close contacts of suspects, probable, and con-firmed cases within 24 hours of detection, and implementing more targeted granular lockdowns.”

“Also, the intensified implementation of the PDITR (prevent-detect-isolate-treat-reintegrate) strategies across all settings, stricter border control, and correct adherence to the minimum public health standards must be observed,” the DOH said.

 Herd immunity

Also on Thursday, July 29, experts from the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) said herd immunity against COVID-19 – now that the more contagious Delta variant is spreading – requires the vaccination of 90 percent of the population.

In a press briefing, DOST-Vaccine Expert Panel head Nina Gloriani said the country needs to increase its target population for vaccination to keep up with the growing number of Delta variant cases and achieve herd immunity.

“We need to aim higher and do it faster. If before we were aiming to inoculate 60-70 percent (of the population), we may have to increase this to 85-90 percent because this Delta variant is a real concern,” Gloriani said.

This was echoed by VEP member Rontgene Solante, as he underscored that the Delta variant is “highly transmissible.”

Earlier, the DOH said a Delta variant carrier could infect up to eight other people in one sitting, while an Alpha variant patient can transmit the virus to as many as five others in one occa-sion.

In striving to prevent symptomatic infections, Solante said a bigger portion of the population should be targeted for vaccination.

“For example, (with that target) your protection will be like 65 or 70 percent. That will not be enough to target just 70 percent, or 75 percent herd immunity,” he explained. “So, for us to get better immunity at the population level, we may have to increase our target in a scenario where we have Delta variant.”

Vaccination intensifies

On Wednesday night, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said vaccinations against COVID-19 continue to intensify, breaking anew the daily record last July 27 with 672,000 jabs administered.

“That is something of a milestone in our vaccination program. We want more people to be vaccinated at the soonest possible time,” Vergeire said in her interview with “The Chiefs” on Cignal TV’s One News.

To date, the country has received more than 30 million doses of vaccines.

In Malacañang, presidential spokesman Harry Roque Jr. said the government still cannot open its vaccination program to the general population in consideration of the requirement of vac-cine donors that priority should be given to the vulnerable sectors – senior citizens (A2) and people with comorbidities (A3).

President Duterte said the slots of people who do not want to avail themselves of the COVID-19 jabs should be given to those willing to be inoculated.

“Do not wait for those who do not want it. Let’s give it to the people who want it,” Duterte said. “If you want to go out, get vaccinated. If you do not want to go out, I am telling the authorities down there to give it (slot) to others.”

Unvaccinated

Meanwhile, the President ordered authorities to escort unvaccinated persons to their homes, saying those who refuse to get COVID-19 shots should not go out because they are “walking super spreaders” of the virus.

Duterte said while there is no law yet punishing unvaccinated persons who move around, they have to be prevented from doing so because many are dying of COVID-19.

“To the people who refuse to get vaccinated, I tell you, do not leave your homes because if you leave your homes, I would tell the police to bring you back to your homes,” Duterte said in a public address Wednesday.

“It’s really the job of barangay captains to go around to see who are vaccinated and who are not, and to give the appropriate warning that they should not be going around because they are throwing viruses left and right,” he added.

But Philippine National Police chief Gen. Guillermo Eleazar said police officers will not force people who refuse vaccination to stay indoors.

“We will plead with them,” Eleazar said in Filipino in an interview over Teleradyo, adding that his order is for police to exercise maximum tolerance on unvaccinated people.

 In a statement, the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) said it is illegal for the President to order the police and the barangay officials to restrict the movements of unvaccinated individuals.

“The fact is, this again cannot be legally justified absent a valid law or ordinance specifically governing such a situation,” said NUPL national president Edre Olalia.

Earlier, Duterte said he would assume responsibility for the efforts of law enforcers to restrict the movements of unvaccinated persons.

“Why would I wait for a law? Many are dying, That’s the problem. There is no law, but the law of necessity is there... If someone files charges, I will take responsibility... I assume full responsibility for that,” Duterte said.

Asked to clarify Duterte’s statement, Roque said Duterte was thinking about allowing vaccinated individuals to work and to avail of the services of some businesses like indoor dining.

“The President was thinking about how to reopen the economy because if we close it, people would be hungry,” Roque said in Filipino.

The Philippine Red Cross (PRC) also reminded the public to take extra precautions by keeping kids at home.

“Remind your children to practice protective measures at all times – wear a mask, observe social distancing, and wash/disinfect your hands regularly,” Sen. Richard Gordon, PRC chair-man and CEO, said while in isolation after testing positive for COVID-19.

“Also give your children the sense that the changes happening around them are designed to keep everyone safe,” Gordon added. – With Manny Tupas, Evelyn Macairan, Cecille Suerte Felipe