67 Tuguegarao health workers test positive for COVID-19; 1 Delta variant case detected

Tuguegarao in Cagayan on Saturday reported that 67 healthcare workers had tested positive for COVID-19, and one Delta variant case was detected in the city.

Interviewed at the Laging Handa public briefing, Tuguegarao City Mayor Jefferson Soriano said the 67 healthcare workers were among the 77 frontliners who tested positive for the virus.

Most of them are asymptomatic and symptomatic mild cases.

"We have a Delta variant case as of the other night as confirmed to me by the DOH [Department of Health]. But I am sure it is not only one, because the patient was with other members in their household that tested positive," Soriano said.

"But I'm almost sure, we have more than one Delta variant in Tuguegarao City," he added. 

Soriano said the Delta variant case has fully recovered, and contact tracing was conducted among the patient's close contacts.

The mayor also reported that as of Saturday, they have 773 active COVID-19 cases, with 63 transmissions recorded on Friday.

"We have an occurring problem regarding our healthcare utilization rate, as well as the staff who will monitor our isolation units. Hospitals and isolation units are in full capacity," he said.

The Tuguegarao City mayor said he already appealed to the national government for cash aid for 22,790 families affected by the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ). Tuguegarao has been placed under ECQ, the strictest restriction measure, from August 12 to 21. 

More than 30,000 individuals of the 75,000 who registered for the city's vaccination program were already vaccinated.

"In the A1 [healthcare workers] category, 78% were vaccinated. In A2 [senior citizens] we had a difficulty, only 61% of the more than 20,000 senior citizens were vaccinated. In the A3 category [persons with comorbidity], we have 95% vaccinated. We are already at A4 [frontline personnel in essential sectors] with 27%," Soriano said. —KG, GMA News