(Eagle News) — The Philippines on Friday, July 16, reported its first 11 local cases of the Delta COVID-19 variant, with two of them in Metro Manila.
Health Undersecretary Ma. Rosario Vergeire said the 11 were part of the 16 additional Delta variant cases detected in the latest genome sequencing run.
Of the 16 additional cases, five were returning overseas Filipinos.
With the additional Delta variant cases, the total detected in the Philippines now stands at 35.
11 local Delta variant cases
According to the DOH, of the 11 local cases, six were detected in Region 10. All of them have so far recovered.
One local case, meanwhile, was tested for COVID-19 in Metro Manila but has an address in Region 3.
The patient got sick on June 27 and recovered afterwards.
Of the two cases in Metro Manila, one died after being rushed to the hospital on June 28. The other case recovered from COVID-19 after getting sick on June 23.
The DOH said all these cases had no known connection with each other.
The last two cases were from Region 6, and have also since recovered after getting sick on May 27.
5 ROFs
Meanwhile, of the five ROF cases, one arrived in the Philippines from the United Kingdom on April 26.
The patient recovered after undergoing a 14-day quarantine.
The other two ROF cases arrived from Qatar on June 15 and have also recovered.
The DOH said it was still verifying the arrival date and quarantine status of the remaining two.
Earlier, the World Health Organization said the Delta COVID-19 variant was on track to being the globally dominant COVID-19 variant due to its transmissibility.
Vergeire earlier said the Delta variant–first detected in India–could be 60 percent more transmissible than the Alpha variant first found in the United Kingdom.
An Alpha variant-positive person, she said, can infect four to five people. On the other hand, a Delta variant-positive person, she said, can infect eight people.
The Delta variant has already been reported as the dominant COVID-19 strain in the US.
