The Philippines may have to reimpose tougher restrictions to control the COVID-19 pandemic after the Department of Health confirmed the first few local cases of the Delta variant of the coronavirus, President Rodrigo Duterte said Monday night.
"The reported local cases in the country is a call for serious alarm and concern," Duterte said in his weekly televised briefing with his Cabinet.
"We may need to reimpose stricter restrictions to avoid mass gatherings and avoid superspreader events," he added, noting that some Asian countries such as Indonesia were already under stricter restrictions due to the Delta variant.
"I urge the DILG (Department of Interior and Local Government) … to impose existing restrictions with greater urgency," Duterte said.
The government is “aiming to promote total health," Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said earlier in a separate briefing, when asked if the government would tighten quarantine protocols.
Duterte stressed the importance of getting vaccinated against COVID-19, noting a Pulse Asia survey that showed 43% of Filipinos were now willing to get inoculated against the coronavirus.
“You must get the vaccines or you die,” Duterte said, adding those who didn't believe in the jabs should just stay at home.
Meanwhile, the country will have to beef up its oxygen supply to prepare for a possible surge in COVID-19 cases due to the Delta variant, the Department of Health (DOH) said.
The warning came after 16 people had been traced with the Delta variant — 11 local cases reported in Northern Mindanao, Metro Manila, Western Visayas, and Central Luzon, and five who had returned from abroad.
While authorities want to arrest the spread of the variant, Roque said they are also preventing more people from going hungry should more areas of the country be placed under stricter lockdown.
“Our strategy, as much as possible, is we will have localized lockdowns so that our compatriots can continue working,” he said.
The DOH has been preparing for another surge since the Delta variant was first reported in India, said Health Undersecretary and spokesperson Maria Rosario Vergeire.
“We are preparing for this Delta variant. As we said, it's just a matter of time before it enters,” Vergeire said in Filipino in an interview with ABS-CBN's Teleradyo.
"Our hospitals are now more guided that they should be expanding their [number of COVID-19] beds already. Our local governments have been guided also [that] they should intensify their PDITR (prevent-detect-isolate-treat-reintegrate) response,” Vergeire said.
However, a group of private hospitals on Monday expressed concern about their ability to expand their intensive care units (ICUs) to deal with a potential surge in COVID-19 cases.
Dr. Jose Rene de Grano, head of the Philippine Hospital Association of the Philippines (PHAP), said many of their health care workers had either resigned or transferred, affecting their operations.
Meanwhile, Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Trenas has tightened border controls in the city to stem the surge of the disease and to guard against possible transmission of the Delta variant, as one case was detected in Pandan town in neighboring Antique province.
Through an executive order, Trenas said land, sea, and air travel into Iloilo City from within Panay Island is prohibited effective immediately until 11:59 p.m. of July 31.
Exempted from the order are persons who need to enter Iloilo City for work; for medical needs; for government services; for transport of goods and/or construction materials; humanitarian purposes; COVID-19 vaccination; returning overseas Filipino workers and city residents; residents of Iloilo and Guimaras provinces; and authorized persons outside residence (APORs).
Iloilo City was placed under an Enhanced Community Quarantine by the Inter-Agency Task Force on COVID-19 last July 15 from a Modified ECQ the previous period. The city has averaged 96 new COVID-19 cases daily from July 1 to 17, Trenas noted in his order.
In Metro Manila, Caloocan City Mayor Oscar Malapitan warned about the entry of the Delta variant in the NCR and ordered the city police to be stricter in monitoring gatherings.
“We had a meeting yesterday with the Metro Manila Mayors, IATF, and DOH, where they discussed the Delta variant which is very dangerous.
The Delta variant has entered NCR, it has spread in other cities,” Malapitan said at the flag-raising ceremony in Caloocan yesterday morning.
The mayor said he will also convene a meeting with the captains of each barangay, to ensure that the government health guidelines are implemented in their constituencies.
The Delta variant is more transmissible, and the probability of hospitalization is higher, Vergeire said.
“We just need to be very cautious. Let's implement our protocols for isolation of close contacts and those turning positive," she said.
Mobility will always be a risk and a factor in the virus' spread, she said.
The Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) will continuously assess the situation in the National Capital Region (NCR), following proposals that the NCR Plus bubble be reinforced to keep the variant out, Vergeire said.
"When the surge happened in April, there were a lot of our personnel who resigned or transferred. That is why our bed capacity is limited, while other hospitals have downsized," De Grano said during a briefing.
"We have enough oxygen support, ventilators, but if there will be a surge, we cannot easily expand our intensive care units because it comes with huge expenses, with additional required equipment, as well as highly trained nurses and doctors," De Grano added.
Fear of another surge came as the Philippines detected 11 local cases of the more contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus.
The 11 were among the 35 Delta variant cases currently on record in the country.
Of the number, three deaths have been recorded, the DOH said (see related story below – Editors).
Private hospitals are mandated to allocate 30 percent of their capacity to COVID-19 patients.
De Grano urged the public to strictly observe minimum health protocols and get themselves vaccinated against COVID-19 soon as a vaccine is available.
"We have problems with vaccine supply, but the local government units have been very quick in administering the vaccines," he said.
The Philippines has only been able to fully vaccinate about 3.5 million people. This is below the target of vaccinating 58 million in highly urbanized areas by the end of the year.
The Philippines logged 5,651 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, bringing the total number of infections to 1,513,396.
There were 72 new fatalities on Monday, bringing the COVID-19 death toll to 26,786.
The DOH also reported 5,332 new recoveries, bringing the total recoveries to 1,439,049.
There 47,561 active cases, of which 91.9 percent were mild, 1.9 percent were asymptomatic, 1.6 percent were critical, 2.7 percent were severe, and 1.88 percent were moderate.
The DOH also reported that, nationwide, 54 percent of the ICU beds, 46 percent of the isolation beds, 44 percent of the ward beds, and 36 percent of the ventilators, were in use.
In Metro Manila, 43 percent of the ICU beds, 38 percent of the isolation beds, 34 percent of the ward beds, and 32 percent of the ventilators, were in use.
The independent OCTA Research Group on Monday urged the government to reimpose its bubble policy over Metro Manila, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal or NCR Plus, and maintain restrictions on children amid the threat of the highly contagious Delta variant.
OCTA fellow Guido David said a bubble policy would allow economic activity in Metro Manila to continue unhampered and eliminate the need for a tighter lockdown classification.
David also said restrictions on the movement of children should be reimposed since they are not yet eligible for COVID-19 vaccination.
In other developments:
• The DOH said some Delta variant cases have tested positive for COVID-19, even after being tagged as recoveries. Vergeire said nine local Delta variant cases and five returning overseas Filipinos who were earlier tagged as recoveries were asked to undergo a repeat quarantine and COVID-19 test. The initial results showed that some of them still tested positive, she added.
• A former National COVID-19 Task Force adviser on Sunday suspected that the number of local cases of the Delta variant in the country might be underreported, noting that there is a limited genome sequencing. “What the Department of Health should do is go to those particular hotspots in Mindanao or Visayas," Dr. Tony Leachon said in a report on "24 Oras Weekend." Patients who test positive for COVID-19 should then undergo genomic surveillance so that the authorities will know what they are dealing with, he added.
• The city of Manila traced 36 contacts of the three Delta variant cases earlier reported there, the DOH said Monday as it assured the public that the COVID-19 situation in the capital city was “manageable.”
“They were able to identify about 36 individuals already who came in contact with the three positive individuals with Delta variant in the city of Manila,” Vergeire said in a Palace briefing. Initial contact tracing yielded almost three dozen contacts, she added.
• Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief General Guillermo Eleazar ordered police in Basilan, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi to help intensify the intelligence monitoring and regular patrol on the shores to prevent the illegal entry of people from neighboring countries amid the threat of the Delta variant of COVID-19. Eleazar visited the provinces of Basilan, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi to check on the morale and welfare of the local troops, as well as to get updates on the security measures being implemented in the three provinces that include measures to protect local residents from the threat of the coronavirus. Eleazar also tasked Police Lt. Gen. Joselito Vera Cruz, the deputy chief for administration, to prepare all the medical equipment and supplies for policemen.