LA TRINIDAD, Benguet(PIA) — The local government of La Trinidad maintains that the municipality is still free from the COVID-19 Delta variant.
Mayor Romeo Salda said that the first COVID-19 Delta variant case detected in the province of Apayao recently is not yet in La Trinidad and the municipality remains free from that more infectious variant.
Salda said that based on the investigation and contact tracing conducted by the Municipal Health Office, the patient from Apayao could not have acquired the virus in La Trinidad. He clarified that although the patient has travel history in La Trinidad visiting family members, the travel was not within the 14-day incubation period of the virus.
The provincial government of Apayao thru the Provincial Inter-agency Task Force received notification from the Philippine Genome Center on August 6 that a specimen from Apayao submitted to them last month tested positive for the Delta variant. The patient from the municipality of Pudtol was tagged to have recovered on July 26, 2021.
In the contact tracing conducted, the patient came to La Trinidad prior to testing positive for COVID-19. With this information, the LGU thru its Municipal Health Office with the Department of Health regional office immediately conducted contact tracing, swab testing and isolation of possible contacts.
Salda said none of the family members of the patient showed symptoms and none tested positive for the COVID-19 in the risk-based testing conducted by the contact tracing team.
Just the same, the mayor called on the people to continue adhering to all the health and safety protocols and stay protected against COVID-19 especially with the more infectious Delta variant. He reminded constituents to always wear facemasks and face shields, maintain social and physical distancing, avoid mass gatherings and crowd drawing activities, wash and sanitize always, and stay healthy. **JDP/RMC- PIA-CAR
