SEVENTEEN additional Delta (B.1.617.2) variant cases have been detected in the Philippines, bringing the total number of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) cases with this highly transmissible variant to 64.
In a statement Saturday, July 24, 2021, the Department of Health (DOH) said the newly detected cases consist of 12 local cases, one returning overseas Filipino (ROF) and four under verification.
Of the 12 local cases, nine have indicated addresses in the National Capital Region while three are from Calabarzon.
Three remain active while 14 have been tagged as recovered. Regional and local DOH offices were validating each patient's status.
The University of the Philippines Philippine Genome Center (PGC) also detected 11 Alpha (B.1.1.7) variant cases, 13 Beta (B.1.351) variant cases and two Theta (P.3) variant cases among the latest batch of coronavirus-positive samples subjected to whole genome sequencing.
Seven Alpha patients and two Beta patients had died.
Of the 11 Alpha cases, 10 are local cases and one is under verification. One remains active, seven had died and three have been tagged as recovered.
Of the additional 13 Beta variant cases, 10 were local and three were being verified. One is still active, two died and 10 recovered.
One of the two P.3 cases is a local case while the other is being verified. Both have recovered.
There are now 1,679 Alpha variant cases, 1,840 Beta variant cases and 235 P.3 cases in the country.
These sequencing results don't include yet the samples collected from the crewmembers of the vessel from Indonesia that is docked in Albay. These will be included in the next batch, DOH said. (HDT / Sunstar Philippines)