Philippines reports 380 new Delta cases, first B.1.1.318 case

The Philippines on Monday reported 380 more cases of the highly contagious Delta variant and the first case of the B.1.1.318 variant.

In a media briefing, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the latest run sequenced 746 samples collected in March, April, September, and October.

Of these, 380 or half tested positive for the Delta variant, 166 tested positive for the Beta variant, 104 tested positive for the Alpha variant, and one case tested positive for the B.1.1.318 variant.

Variant under monitoring

“Please note that the B1.1.318 was not designated yet as a variant under monitoring during the time of sample collection,” Vergeire said.

According to Vergeire, the B.1.1.318 is classified as a variant under monitoring that pushed the increase of the COVID-19 cases in Mauritius.

“It has 14 mutations in its spike region, kasama po dito ‘yung mga mutations na nakita din natin sa Delta variant atsaka sa Beta variant,” she said.

“So ibig sabihin pinag-aaralan po ito maagi ng WHO, ng mga international experts, dahil ito pong mga mutations na ito ay maaring makaapekto rin sa efficacy ng bakuna, maari rin po makaapekto sa transmission ng sakit.”

(It has 14 mutations in its spike region, including the mutations that we saw with the Delta and Beta variants. This is being studied by WHO and international experts because this may affect the efficacy of vaccines and the transmission of the virus.)

The Philippines detected the case from a 34-year-old whose sample was collected in March from the Philippine Red Cross laboratory.

The Department of Health said the case has a travel history from the United Arab Emirates and arrived in the country on March 5. The case recovered on March 21 and has a local address in Bacolod City, Negros Occidental.

“Again, let me just reiterate, it’s a variant under monitoring. Lahat po pinag-aaralan sa ngayon. Wala po tayong cause to panic. Kailangan lang po maging vigilant tayo lahat ang follow our minimum public health standards,” she said.

(Again, let me just reiterate, it’s a variant under monitoring. It is being looked into. There’s no cause to panic. We need to remain vigilant and follow the minimum public health standards.)

Vergeire said the Philippines has sequenced a total of 17,893 samples, of which 15,882 are assigned lineages.

Delta defeated?

Meanwhile, when asked about vaccine czar Carlito Galvez’s statement that the Philippines has defeated the Delta variant, Vergeire said this should be put in context.

Vergeire said she believes Galvez was saying that the Philippines was expecting to be overwhelmed by the Delta variant when it was first detected in the country.

“Pero hindi po natin naabot ‘yung projected number of cases, hindi po natin naabot ‘yung  overwhelmed health systems. Although nahirapan po talaga tayo… nakita natin we were able to reduce the number of cases in one and a half month,” she said.

(But we did not reach the projected number of cases, our health systems were not overwhelmed. Although we had difficulty… we were able to reduce the number of cases in one and a half months.)

“So, I think ayun ‘yung konteksto ni Secretary Galvez. Hindi naman po natin sinasabi natalo na natin ang Delta dahil ang Delta po nandito pa sa atin,” she added.

(So I think that was the context. We’re not saying that we’ve defeated Delta because it is still here.)

The Philippines on Sunday reported 5,279 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the nationwide tally to 2,756,923 and active cases to 60,957.  —KBK, GMA News