Filipino seafarer infected with the COVID-19 Delta variant makes it to full recovery
A 44 year old Filipino seafarer from Capiz infected with the COVID-19 Delta variant has recovered, as confirmed by Joeffrey Espiritu, Development Management Officer of the Department of Health in Capiz.
Fully recovered after quarantine
The affected seafarer was tested positive on 6 June and quarantined till he was certified to have fully recovered. Upon returning to Capiz, he was placed on further 14 days of quarantine as a precaution. Despite the virus being known to be more transmissible and likely to cause severe illness, he eventually beat the odds and fully recovered.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) said the variant is the globally dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. As of 21 June 2021, the Philippines reported a total of 17 COVID-19 cases with the Delta variant but all of them were detected at the country’s borders. There have been no reported cases of local transmission as yet. Instead, those found to be infected are either repatriated overseas workers or locally stranded individuals.
Dr Glen Alonsabe, Department of Health’s Regional Epidemiologist and Head of the Regional Surveillance Unit, said the Western Visayas remains free from any COVID-19 Delta variant. He assured the public that the department is continually sending specimens to the Philippine Genome Center for sequencing.
Pfizer-BioNTech effective against Delta variant
On 24 June 2021, a Pfizer official in Israel announced the BioNTech is highly effective against the Delta variant. Alon Rappaport, Pfizer’s Medical Director in Israel, said: “The data we have today; accumulating from research we conducted at the lab and data from places where the Delta variant replaced the British variant, showed our vaccine to be very effective in preventing the COVID-19 by around 90 per cent.”
However, Sharon Alroy-Preis, Head of Public Health at Israel’s Health Ministry begged to differ. She argued the Pfizer shot lacks sufficient data to provide insight on effectiveness against the virus. “We are collecting the data now, and only seeing the first cases of the Delta variant in Israel – about 200 of those. We will know more soon,” Alroy-Preis added.
Crewing Online News Team
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