Increase in PH’s COVID-19 cases can still be due to Delta variant – expert

FILE PHOTO: Colorized scanning electron micrograph of an apoptotic cell (greenish brown) heavily infected with SARS-COV-2 virus particles (pink), also known as novel coronavirus, isolated from a patient sample. Image captured and color-enhanced at the NIAID Integrated Research Facility (IRF) in Fort Detrick, Maryland. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH/Handout via REUTERS.

MANILA, Philippines — The latest increase in the number of COVID-19 cases in the country could still be due to the highly transmissible Delta variant, an infectious disease expert said Thursday.

Dr. Rontgene Solante, chief of the Adult Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine unit of San Lazaro Hospital and member of the Department of Science and Technology’s Vaccine Expert Panel (VEP), said the Delta variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, first detected in India, can also drive this rise in cases coupled with the increase in mobility amid the holiday season.

SARS-CoV-2 is the latest coronavirus strain that causes the serious respiratory illness COVID-19.

“For me, there are factors to consider why. One is the increase in the mobility of people because of the holiday and at the same time more gatherings, and the more important factor there, we still have a virus that is highly transmissible,” he told ABS-CBN News Channel’s Headstart.

“Even if with Delta, that is still a threat, even if we only have four Omicron variant [cases] that were documented. But Delta can still give you this trend of increase in the surge of cases,” he added.

Delta is currently the most dominant COVID-19 variant in the country, according to the Department of Health (DOH).

On Wednesday, the DOH reported 889 new coronavirus infections and a positivity rate of 4.5 percent, higher than the less than 500 cases and less than one percent positivity rate in the previous weeks.

Asked categorically if he thinks the increase is due to Delta and not Omicron, Solante said: “Yes, I would say so, because the trend with Delta can be as same as that with Omicron, but we need more data in the next report of the Philippine Genome Center.”

“That will be very crucial if the Omicron is increasing and at the same time Delta is here. Well, we have two very highly transmissible variants of concern that will probably be driving the increase in cases in the next coming days.”

“At this point, it’s quite difficult to say that we have Omicron [driving the increase] but I would say this is still Delta. We need more data if this is already Omicron variant driven,” he added.

As of December 24, the Philippines has already detected 8,452 cases of the Delta variant and four imported cases of the Omicron variant from sequenced samples.

The Delta variant is said to be 60 percent more transmissible than the Alpha variant first detected in the United Kingdom, which in itself was 40 percent more transmissible than the original SARS-CoV-2 detected in Wuhan, China, in 2019.

Meanwhile, the Omicron variant is believed to be four times more transmissible in its early stage than Delta, according to a study by a Japanese scientist who advises the country’s health ministry.

KGA