Philippines reports 12 more cases of COVID-19 Delta variant
MANILA, Philippines — Health authorities on Thursday reported 12 new cases of the Delta variant of COVID-19, as the Philippines braces for the new threat of the virus that is ravaging countries in Southeast Asia.
Today's development brought the total count of Delta infections at home to 47. Per the health department, the 12 are local cases who have since recovered.
Officials said six are from Central Luzon, three from the National Capital Region, two from CALABARZON, and one from Bicol Region.
"All cases have been tagged as recovered but their outcomes are being validated by our regional and local health offices."
READ: What we know so far about the Delta variant of COVID-19
On July 20, the DOH said it reclassified eight recoveries from the Delta as active cases after doing re-tests. All remain under quarantine, as well as their close contacts.
The number of deaths from the Delta variant has stayed at three, per authorities.
Delta was first identified in India, and is seen to be driving a significant increase in COVID-19 cases even in countries with high vaccination rates.
"With the detection of additional cases," the agency said, "it is crucial that we implement enhanced response immediately in the areas where these cases were detected and it is contiguous LGUs as well as areas with case spikes with the premise that there may be ongoing local transmission already."
DOH also reported 187 new cases of the Alpha variant, 142 of the Beta, and 12 more of the P.3. homegrown variant.
Alpha was first detected in the United Kingdom, Beta in South Africa and P.3. in the Philippines. This variant, however, was recently downgraded by the World Health Organization as a "variant of interest" to now a variant under "alerts for monitoring."
A thread on new variants of SARS-CoV-2 reported in the Philippines.
The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) rallies all local government units (LGUs) "to be more vigilant and reinforce measures against COVID-19 to impede the projected increase in cases until the end of the year."
DILG Secretary Benhur Abalos says: “Kami po ay nananawagan sa ating LGUs na bantayang mabuti ang mga kaso ng COVID sa kanilang nasasakupan. We are still in a pandemic and we count on our local officials to lead this war, especially in the coming months where alarming numbers of COVID-19 cases are projected.
He calls on LGUs "to fortify their measures against COVID-19, following the DOH’s recent projection of increase in COVID-19 cases in NCR by October, which can even extend to other parts of the country until the end of the year."
The Department of Health announces the detection of 12 new local cases of the Delta variant of COVID-19, bringing the total to 47. Six from Central Luzon, three from Metro Manila, two from Calabarzon and one from Bicol Region.
All Delta cases have been tagged as recovered, but their outcomes are being validated by our regional and local health offices. — Christian Deiparine
The Department of Health says it has confirmed 16 cases of the Delta variant in the Philippines. Of those case, 11 are considered local transmissions.
Another nine UK variant cases of COVID19 were detected in Kalinga prompting the Kalinga Provincial Health Office to reiterate to the public to maintain vigilance and strictly compliance to health protocols.
According to the Regional Epidemiology Surveillance Unit of the Center for Health Development Cordillera, the newly identified cases were from the five towns, one each from Rizal, Pasil, Tanudan and Lubuagan. Four cases meanwhile were detected in Kalinga's capital, Tabuk City.
Kalinga has logged a total of 19 UK variant cases since it got into the country last January 2021. — The STAR/Artemio Dumlao
The Department of Health announces new cases of the following variants detected in the Philippines:
- 1 B.1.617.2 (Indian) variant,
- 104 B.1.1.7 (UK) variant
- 137 B.1.351 (South Africa) variant,
- 4 P.3 variant
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