PH detects 319 more cases of COVID-19 Delta variant

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire speaks during the Department of Health’s online media forum on Monday, September 20, 2021. Screengrab from DOH Facebook page

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) has recorded an additional 319 cases of the highly transmissible coronavirus Delta variant, its spokesperson, Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire, reported Monday.

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 September 18, 24.2 percent 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.

With the latest tally, the DOH said Delta variant cases in the Philippines are now at 3,027; Beta variant, 2,734; Alpha variant, 2,461; P.3 variant, 452; and Gamma variant, two cases.

Figures showed that 12,530 of the total 14,156 sequenced samples as of September 18 were identified with lineages.

The Beta variant was the next most common variant after Delta, as it has taken up 21.8 percent of the total sequenced samples. The Alpha variant was trailing at 19.6 percent.

The P.3 variant, meanwhile, was at 3.61 percent and the Gamma variant at 0.02 percent.

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

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