Philippines reports 630 more Delta cases, total now at 6,612

The Philippines on Monday reported an additional 630 cases of the highly contagious Delta variant, bringing the total to 6,612.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said this came from the 666 samples collected in March, September, October, and November.

Of the samples, only one tested positive for the Alpha variant.

“We are doing retrospective sample to trace the beginnings of the Delta variant introduction to the country as well as the earliest cases,” Vergeire said at a media briefing.

Vergeire stressed that retrospective sampling is needed to determine the origin of variants in the country as part of the government’s biosurveillance efforts.

“So we started this retrospective sampling, I think it started off last June when we started getting samples also from April and May dahil doon natin unang naitala, nakakita tayo at naka-detect ng Delta variant,” she said.

(So we started this retrospective sampling last June when we started getting samples also from April and May because that’s when we first detected Delta.)

“So gusto natin makita as to the specific area and the specific timeframe kung kailan pumasok itong ganitong klaseng variant sa ating bansa,” she added.

(We want to see the specific area and the specific timeframe when it entered the country.)

The Philippines has sequenced a total of 20,055 samples, of which 17,925 are assigned with lineages.

Of the 17,925 samples, data showed that 36.89% were positive for the Delta variant, 19.96% were positive for the Beta variant, and 17.46% were positive for the Alpha variant.

Variants of concern

The DOH also observed a gradual increase in variants of concern recorded at the national level.

According to Vergeire, variants of concern cases only comprised 24.8% of the samples in February. This increased to 82.2% in March and further increased to 99.3% in October.

“More samples collected in November are needed to determine the proportion of lineages for samples collected for the aforementioned month,” she said.

Vergeire said the agency also observed an increase in Delta variant cases in the succeeding months after it was first recorded.

“The increased proportion of these variants can be attributed to their increased transmissibility. However, sampling methodology also affects these proportions as samples from target areas or population are prioritized more,” she said.

Target populations or areas include clusters, severe or critical cases, admitted cases, areas with increased COVID-19 cases, fully vaccinated individuals, and returning overseas Filipinos.

Meanwhile, the Philippines on Sunday logged 1,926 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the nationwide tally to 2,816,980 and active cases to 28,102. — RSJ, GMA News