Philippines sees 426 more Delta variant cases
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health said Monday 426 more cases of the highly transmissible Delta variant of COVID-19 were detected in the country from samples of patients collected in past months.
Additional Delta cases accounted for 84.19% of the 506 total samples sent for whole genome sequencing, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said.
In a briefing, she reported these were collected from March, April, September, October, and November. DOH has said, too, that it is doing retrospective sampling to trace the origins of the Delta variant in the country.
This development brought the Philippines’s total Delta variant cases to 7,038. It comprises 38.29% out of the 18,383 samples with detected lineages.
Apart from the Delta, health authorities also reported 18 cases of the Beta, or the variant first detected in South Africa, as well as 10 of the Alpha or that originally identified in the United Kingdom.
Beta now accounts for 19.56% or 3,595 of total samples with lineages, while Alpha with 17.08% or 3,139 cases.
Authorities declared local transmission of the Delta in end-July. Experts had attributed the surge in coronavirus cases in past months that has now eased to the variant.
Vergeire said the entire country remains at low-risk status for COVID-19, with daily new cases falling to below 2,000 last week.
The government has since eased many restrictions in Metro Manila and other regions.
But officials have sought to remind the public against falling complacent with the virus’s threat still looming.
The Philippines has tallied 2.82 million coronavirus cases in total to date, with deaths since reaching 47,074.
Local and global updates on COVID-19 cases, outbreaks and containment efforts due to the highly contagious Delta variant, first identified in India. (Main image: Lockdown in Sydney, Australia in June 2021 by AFP/Saeed Khan)
The Delta variant remains dominant and experts, governments and vaccine makers are urging people to take advantage of booster jabs where they are available.
Delta has proved able to evade vaccine defences against transmission better than the Alpha, Beta and Gamma COVID-19 variants.
But jabs have remained highly effective at preventing severe illness from Delta, lowering the risk of overwhelming hospital resources. — AFP
The DOH reports 520 new cases of the highly contagious COVID-19 Delta variant, bringing the total in the Philippines to 5,331.
The new COVID-19 Delta subvariant has not yet been detected in the Philippines, the Department of Health says.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire says health authorities are monitoring 46 sublineages of the Delta variant, but “the particular Delta sublineage has not yet been detected among the COVID-19 positive samples sequenced in the country.”
Experts, however, are looking into the potential impact of the Delta AY.4.2. sublineage on transmissibility.
The Department of Health reports 633 additional cases of the Delta variant.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire says the additional infections account for 84.63% of the 748 samples tested on October 16.
The DOH reports 411 more cases of the highly transmissible COVID-19 Delta variant in the country.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire says the new Delta variant cases come from 747 samples collected from February to September.
- Latest
- Trending
