NOW is not the time to let one’s guard down.
This was the stern warning issued by PBA Commissioner Willie Marcial yesterday, citing the threats posed by the COVID-19 variants in the country that could jeopardize the already long-delayed league season opening.
Marcial specifically pointed to the Delta variant, which has been found to be highly transmissible and, according to the health department and other health experts around the world, causes more severe cases.
“Malupit itong mga bagong variants, lalo na ‘yung Delta, kaya kailangan talaga ibayong pag-iingat,” said Marcial. “Kapag na-tsambahan ka kasi malamang na marami kang mahawahan at kapag tumaas na naman ang cases baka maudlot na naman opening natin.”
The PBA, initially set to kick off last April, has targeted a late June or early July start, but among the factors the government laid down for that to happen is for COVID cases to go down.
The past few weeks have seen a decrease in the number of cases in Metro Manila, but it is still not known if that would be enough to convince the concerned government agencies to give the go-signal to the PBA.
Earlier this month, the WHO renamed the four most concerning COVID variants from the first letters of the Greek alphabet. Thus, the UK variant became the Alpha, the South African the Beta, the Brazilian the Gamma and the Indian the Delta.
There are other strains, although they are treated by WHO as merely “variants of interest” or “variants of concern” for now.
The Delta variant has so far been the most toxic, ravaging India first in October of last year before spreading to around 70 countries around the world, including the US, UK and Singapore.
As of last week, 13 cases have been reported in the Philippines, mostly carried by returning travelers. One has died, while the others are still undergoing treatment.
Marcial agreed with the health experts in saying that getting vaccinated should help curb the spread of the COVID mutations.
