By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson over the weekend urged Negrenses to remain calm after the Department of Health (DOH) confirmed two local cases of the “Delta” COVID-19 variant from Western Visayas.

According to Lacson, they have already been advised by the DOH-6 to make preparations over the possible entry of the Delta variant which was first detected in India.

He admitted that the country’s healthcare system may face difficulties if the Delta variant spreads out of control just like what happened in India, and this month in Indonesia.

The governor again appealed to the Negrenses to cooperate by wearing their face masks and face shields, as well as observing social distancing.

He also urged the residents of the province, especially those under the A2 category (senior citizens), to get and complete their vaccination.

Lacson hopes that the province will be able to achieve herd immunity at the soonest possible time in order to thwart the spread of the Delta variant.

He is also calling on the national government to immediately open the vaccination program for all categories.

Last week, two people from Antique were confirmed to have been infected with the Delta variant.

One of the patients later died from the disease, while the other managed to recover.

The DOH is still conducting an investigation as to how the two people got infected with the Delta variant even though the two did not have any travel history./DGB, WDJ