DOH: Over 300 Delta cases in NCR came from barangay clusters

Over 300 cases of the highly contagious Delta coronavirus variant in Metro Manila were linked to clusters of COVID-19 infection within barangays, the Department of Health (DOH) said Thursday.

DOH Epidemiology Bureau director Dr. Alethea De Guzman said this was part of the reason why health authorities declared community transmission of the Delta variant in Metro Manila and Calabarzon.

Community transmission means there is a clustering of cases and there are no longer links among infected individuals.

“Ang datos na meron tayo ay of the 482 Delta cases sa NCR... 358 ay galing sa mga cluster in barangay no’ng tayo po ay nag-imbestiga,” De Guzman said in a Laging Handa briefing.

(The data that we have is that out of the 482 Delta cases in NCR... 358 were from clusters in barangays, according to our investigation.)

“Ang mga nakuha nating information ay hindi na po ma-determine ng ating mga kaso kung kanino po talaga sila nahawa at kung saan-saang setting po sila nagpunta,” she added.

(The information that we got is that the cases could no longer determine how they were infected or where they went.)

De Guzman said many of the 182 Delta variant cases in Calabarzon could no longer be linked to one another as well.

According to data presented by De Guzman in a separate DOH forum, other regions with a high number of Delta cases were Region 3 with 156 cases, Region 6 with 92 cases, and Region 7 with 59 cases.

The highly infectious variant has so far been detected in 16 of the 17 Philippine regions.

“Sa ngayon, BARMM na lamang po ang hindi pa natin nade-detect-an ng local Delta case. ‘Yun ay maaaring dahil sa kaunti pang samples na nakukuha natin from that region,” De Guzman said.

(As of now, BARMM is the only region where a local Delta case has not been detected. This might be because of the few samples that we have been getting from that region.)

Despite this, De Guzman said there was not yet enough evidence to declare community transmission of the Delta variant across the Philippines.

She noted, however, that only less than 2% of Delta cases have died.

“As of now, we have no evidence that Delta is causing less or more severe disease… Severity is still related doon sa either sa age mo because you’re from an older age groups, you have comorbidities, or unfortunately, if you will seek consult later,” she said.

The Philippines has logged 1,273 Delta variant cases as of August 21.—AOL, GMA News