DOH detects earliest Delta variant case from March sample

Published November 19, 2021 08:41 PM By JOAHNA LEI CASILAO,GMA News

The Department of Health (DOH) on Friday said that a sample taken in March from a COVID-19 patient has tested positive for the highly contagious Delta variant, earlier than its initial detection in the country in May.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the now-earliest case was a returning overseas Filipino with a travel history to China.

In May, the Philippines detected

its first two cases of the Delta variant from two overseas Filipinos with no history of travel to India.

“But during these times, itong mga panahon na nagre-retrospective sampling tayo, gumawa tayo nung October 22 na run at nakakita tayo ng mas maaga na detection ng Delta variant. And that was in March 31 of 2021,” she said in a media briefing.

(But during these times that we are conducting the retrospective sampling, we saw an earlier detection of the Delta variant. The sample was from March 31 of 2012.)

“So ito po ay nakolekta, inimbestigahan natin. Ang individual na ito was fully recovered and only reported mild symtoms and was able to complete the isolation period required,” she added

(So we collected and investigated this. The individual is fully recovered and only reported mild symptoms and was able to complete the isolation period required.)

At present, the Philippines has reported a total of 6,612 Delta cases.

Vergeire previously said the DOH started its retrospective sampling in June to determine the origin of variants in the country as part of the government’s biosurveillance efforts.

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.—LDF, GMA News

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