MANILA: Philippine health officials warned Friday of a possible surge in coronavirus infections as the first locally transmitted cases of the highly contagious Delta variant were recorded and more than three million people went into lockdown.
Eleven local cases of the more virulent strain have been detected, including two in the national capital region, the health department said, citing results of genome sequencing conducted this week.
The cases dated back to May and June and authorities were checking to ensure they had been “appropriately traced and managed,” Health Undersecretary Rosario Vergeire told reporters.
“The government has started preparing our health system,” Vergeire said.
More hospital beds were being made available for COVID-19 patients and oxygen supplies increased in case of a “surge” in cases, she said.
The Philippines has recorded around 1.5 million coronavirus infections since the start of the pandemic, the second-highest in Southeast Asia.
But a deficient contact tracing system means the real figure is likely much higher.
Record infections earlier this year sent the national capital region and surrounding provinces into lockdown as soaring numbers of patients threatened to overwhelm hospitals.
Cases have eased in recent months, hovering around 5,000 or 6,000 a day. COVID-19 rules have been relaxed in many parts of the country but masks and face shields are mandatory in public.
But as the Delta variant fuels infections around the world, the Philippines has tightened border restrictions for travelers from some of the worst-hit countries, including neighboring Indonesia.
Until this week cases of the strain had been detected only among quarantined Filipino workers returning from overseas.
Among the 11 local infections, six were on the southern island of Mindanao and were “part of a large cluster of cases.” All of them have recovered.
One of the two cases in the national capital region died, the department said.
Asked about the delay in detecting the Delta variant, Philippine Genome Center executive director Cynthia Saloma said they had limited processing capacity and had prioritized samples from hotspot areas.
Some regions were also slow to submit samples, she said.
More than three million people living in areas where the Delta infections were found have been sent into lockdown until the end of the month.
Residents in the central province of Iloilo and the southern cities of Cagayan de Oro and Gingoog have been ordered to stay home, non-essential business shuttered and religious services banned.
The detection of Delta infections in the community comes as the Philippines struggles to vaccinate its population of 110 million due to tight global supplies and logistical challenges.
Some cities recently suspended inoculations after running out of shots — just as vaccine hesitancy among Filipinos declines.
Only 4.3 million people are fully vaccinated while more than 10 million have received their first jab.
Philippines warns coronavirus ‘surge’ possible after Delta strain detected
https://arab.news/63jg2
Philippines warns coronavirus ‘surge’ possible after Delta strain detected
- Eleven local cases of the more virulent strain have been detected
- Philippines tightened border restrictions for travelers from some of the worst-hit nations
End of US-Russia nuclear pact a ‘grave moment’: UN chief
- Guterres urged Washington and Moscow “to return to the negotiating table without delay and to agree upon a successor framework”
UNITED NATIONS, United States: UN chief Antonio Guterres on Wednesday urged the United States and Russia to quickly sign a new nuclear deal, as the existing treaty was set to expire in a “grave moment for international peace and security.”
The New START agreement will end Thursday, formally releasing both Moscow and Washington from a raft of restrictions on their nuclear arsenals.
“For the first time in more than half a century, we face a world without any binding limits on the strategic nuclear arsenals of the Russian Federation and the United States of America,” Guterres said in a statement.
The UN secretary-general added that New START and other arms control treaties had “drastically improved the security of all peoples.”
“This dissolution of decades of achievement could not come at a worse time — the risk of a nuclear weapon being used is the highest in decades,” he said, without giving more details.
Guterres urged Washington and Moscow “to return to the negotiating table without delay and to agree upon a successor framework.”
Russia and the United States together control more than 80 percent of the world’s nuclear warheads but arms agreements have been withering away.
New START, first signed in 2010, limited each side’s nuclear arsenal to 1,550 deployed strategic warheads — a reduction of nearly 30 percent from the previous limit set in 2002.
It also allowed each side to conduct on-site inspections of the other’s nuclear arsenal, although these were suspended during the Covid-19 pandemic and have not resumed since.
