Philippines detects 319 more cases of Covid-19 Delta variant

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MANILA (Philippine Daily Inquirer/Asia News Network): The Department of Health (DOH) has recorded an additional 319 cases of the highly transmissible coronavirus Delta variant, its spokesperson, Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire (pic), reported Monday (Sept 20).

Based on the recent sequencing of 374 samples, 319 were new Delta variant cases, 13 were Alpha variant cases, nine were Beta variant cases, and five were P.3 variant cases. The remaining 28 samples were the original variant of SARS-CoV-2, the latest coronavirus strain which causes Covid-19.

“Of the 12,530 samples sequenced assigned with a lineage as of Sept 18, 24.2 per cent of samples were positive for the Delta variant,” Vergeire explained during an online briefing of DOH.

“This variant is now the most common lineage among sequenced samples as of the latest full genome sequencing run,” she added.

Cagayan Valley has the biggest chunk of the new Delta variant cases with 40 cases. Caraga followed with 31 Delta variant cases and then Calabarzon at 26 cases.

Figures showed that 12,530 of the 14,156 sequenced samples were identified with lineages.

The Beta variant is the second most common variant, making up 21.8 percent among the sequenced samples.

Meanwhile, 19.6 per cent of the samples were positive for the Alpha variant while 0.02 per cent of the samples were positive for the Gamma variant. To date, the Philippines has detected two cases of the Gamma variant.

Further, samples collected in August showed that cases of variants of concern comprise 97.7 per cent.