THE Department of Health (DOH) yesterday said 516 additional cases of the Delta variant of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) have been detected in the country, bringing to 1,789 the total number of individuals infected with the more transmissible variant.
In a statement, the DOH said “there is a continuous and increasing detection of the Delta variant in the communities,” but added that “the total Alpha (UK) and Beta (South Africa) variant cases remain the highest in the country.”
Of the additional 516 Delta (B.1.617.2) variant cases detected by the Philippine Genome Center (PGC), the DOH said 473 are local cases, 31 are Returning Overseas Filipinos (ROF), while 12 cases are currently being verified if they are local or ROF cases. Among the 473 local cases, 114 cases had indicated addresses in the National Capital Region (NCR), 79 in Calabarzon, 64 in Central Luzon, 48 in Northern Mindanao, 32 in Cagayan Valley, 24 in Ilocos Region, 23 in Central Visayas, 22 in Davao Region, 20 in Mimaropa, 16 in Bicol Region, 13 in Western Visayas, 12 in Zamboanga Peninsula, and six (6) in Cordillera Administrative Region.
Six (6) of these cases are still active, five (5) have died, while 505 have been tagged as recovered.
“All other details are being validated by the regional and local health offices,” said the DOH, which had earlier declared that there is already a community transmission of the Delta variant in the NCR and the Calabarzon.
Aside from the Delta cases, the PGC also detected 73 Alpha (B.1.1.7) variant cases, 81 Beta (B.1.351) variant cases, and 41 P.3 (Philippine) variant cases in its latest batch of whole genome sequencing.
Of the additional 73 Alpha variant cases detected, 71 were local cases, while the other two were ROF cases. All cases have been tagged as recovered. The total Alpha variant cases are now 2,395.
On the other hand, among the additional 81 Beta variant cases, 78 were local cases, two (2) cases were ROFs, while one (1) case is currently being verified if it is a local or ROF case.
Based on the case line list, three (3) cases have died, while the 78 cases have recovered.
The total Beta variant cases is now 2,669.
For the 41 additional P.3 variant cases, all were found as local cases. Records indicate that one (1) case has died, while the other 40 cases have been tagged as recovered. The total P.3 variant cases is now at 429.
