571 new Delta variant cases seen from 629 samples
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health reported Monday 571 more cases of the highly transmissible Delta variant of COVID-19.
DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a briefing that 90.78% of the 629 newly-sequenced samples were found to have the Delta variant.
The Delta variant, which was first detected in India, accounts for 40.54% of the 19,305 samples with lineages in the country.
Vergeire also reported one case of the Alpha variant and another case of the Beta variant.
The figures pushed the total number of Alpha variant cases to 3,168 and Beta variant cases to 3,630.
Philippine authorities have yet to detect a case of the new Omicron variant of COVID-19. But the DOH urged the public to be vigilant.
“All of us just need to be cautious, be prepared so in the event that studies suggest the Omicron variant is more transmissible and has more severe characteristics than the Delta variant, then we are all prepared,” Vergeire said in Filipino.
The heavily mutated variant was classified a variant of concern by the World Health Organization.
The DOH reported Sunday 603 additional COVID-19 infections, pushing the country’s caseload to over 2.83 million. Of the total, 0.5% were active cases. — Gaea Katreena Cabico
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.
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