BIATF spokesperson Dr. Yul Lopez confirmed Bohol’s first two cases of Covid Delta variant in Tagbilaran City and Candijay, Monday, Aug. 16. (Contributed)
The Province of Bohol was placed Monday under Alert Level Four, the highest Covid alert classification by the Department of Health (DOH) after most of its hospitals have reached “critical level.”
Dr. Yul Lopez, spokesperson of the Bohol Inter-Agency Task Force (BIATF) said the province was placed under Alert Level Four after its hospitals’ Covid-19 intensive care units and isolation beds breached the 70 percent capacity.
Lopez said only 13 Covid beds are vacant out of the 51 for the entire province and 64 out of the 242 for the isolation beds.
The BIATF also confirmed the Philippine Genome Center detected two Covid Delta variant cases, one from Ubujan, in the capital city of Tagbilaran, on July 9 and Candijay town on July 14.
Lopez said both Delta variant cases entered the province before the imposition of strict border control and travel bans by air and sea early this month.
Both cases have since recovered and none of their close contacts tested for the new variant.
The BIATF reiterates the need to continue the imposition of strict travel protocols amidst the threat of the Delta variant.
“All along, the province of Bohol, and the BIATF was correct in demanding a negative RT-PCR. Not to make life difficult, but to protect the province from more covid infections,” Lopez said.
As of writing, Bohol has 823 active cases with only five experiencing severe symptoms, while the rest are either mild or moderate cases. Ryan Sorote