CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (PIA)--Three female city residents and one infant had to be extracted from their homes anew by the City Health Office (CHO) following confirmation that they were Delta variant infected by the Department of Health (DOH).

"One is a 37-year-old female resident of Barangay Macasandig, another is a 56-year-old female resident of Barangay Carmen, the third is a 25-year-old female resident of Barangay Balulang and the third is a one-year-old male infant with an address in the city but is from within northern Mindanao (which we are still verifying). The three females work in the same company," CHO medical officer Dr. Ted Yu said, August 16.

Yu informed Cagayan de Oro City Mayor Oscar Moreno that all three female residents work in the same company, with two of them assigned in the same department.

"They underwent swab testing last July 26 and were certified clinically recovered after completing their two-week quarantine (with no symptoms). But they were extracted and placed in a DOH isolation facility (following confirmation they were Delta cases). We have already traced six co-workers as close contacts," Yu said.

He added that they were informed about the four new Delta variant patients--the fourth batch of Delta -variant-infected cases logged in Cagayan de Oro City since last month--by DOH-10, August 15 and learned about their names the following day.

The first batch consisted of five Delta variant patients while the second and third batches each had eight patients. About 72 out of the 77 close contacts of the third batch tested negative, while the five will be tested anew, Yu said.

Moreno said the City Hall is closely working with the DOH-10 in handling the Delta variant cases in the city including intensified contact tracing and surveillance.

"With the fourth batch of Delta variants, we should assume there are other variants out there. Our health officials constantly remind us that the virus is mutating in order to survive so we should practice minimum public health standards even at home," Moreno said. (CIO/PIA-10)