President Rodrigo Duterte instructed experts to develop a plan and mechanism to combat the more contagious coronavirus disease (COVID-19) Delta variant that was first seen in India.
According to Duterte, the government can no longer afford another coronavirus disease (COVID-19) variant.
“The scientists, you people, you have to come up with something to fight COVID-19 D[elta]. Eh wala pa tayo niyan. Second is we cannot afford it. Iyong nangyari sa ating, ‘yong first wave, it has depleted really the resources of government. Now, another one would be disastrous for this country. That is why the stricter you are, the better,” said Duterte.
Expert Dr. Edsel Salvana of the IATF Technical Advisory Group urges to follow the “10 plus 4” strategy and the strict adherence to the face shields policy.
International arrivals will be subjected to a 10-day facility-based quarantine, and RT-PCR will be tested on the 7th day.
Duterte urged experts to plan COVID-19 Delta variant response
Subsequently, a 4 -day home quarantine is still required.
“So arrival testing is not recommended by the Technical Advisory Group and this is why we test it on the 7th day para kung nahawa man sila in transit, we have a good chance of picking it up. But more importantly, if we do not release them until the 10th day, even if our test did not work, the chances that that person will be able to spread into the community even if that is a variant is very, very low,” said Salvana.
Salvana also convinced that it was not yet time to remove the face shield requirement outside the house due to the Delta variant.
“The Delta variant is also 40 percent more infectious outdoors, 60 percent more infectious indoors. So it would be nice po to have an extra layer of security na even if hindi naman required, the TAG will still recommend to continue to use face shields even outdoors, especially with the threat of the Delta variant,” said Salvana.
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Director General Eric Domingo said that only Pfizer and AstraZeneca are guaranteed to be effective against the COVID-19 Delta variant.
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