PHILIPPINES— The more transmissible Delta coronavirus variant has overtaken the other variants detected in the Philippines, Dr. Cynthia Saloma, executive director of the Philippine Genome Center (PGC), said Monday.
“The Delta variant really has overtaken the other variants of concerns,” Saloma said in a Palace briefing when asked if the Delta variant is already the dominant variant in the country.
“Dati marami tayong Beta at saka Alpha, ngayon po yung ating mga sampling na nai-sequence pinakamarami na po ang Delta variant [Before we have many Beta and Alpha cases, now based on samplings that we sequenced it’s mostly Delta variant],” she added.
In a separate briefing, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the Delta variant, which was first detected in India, has been detected in nearly all regions of the Philippines.
“Lahat po ng regions, based on the recent run, meron na. Pero ang Caraga po wala pa po kaming nade-detect,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a briefing.
(All regions, based on the recent run, have a Delta case except Caraga where we haven’t detected one.)
Vergeire, however, said almost half of the 338 samples subjected to genome sequencing in the latest run tested positive for the Delta variant.
“Talagang mukhang ‘yung proportion ng Delta variant dito sa ating bansa, based on this initial and very rough analysis, ay mukhang tumataas po talaga,” she said.
Global figures
During the Palace briefing, Saloma made a presentation showing a rapid increase of Delta variant cases globally from April to August this year. She said 42% of samples submitted to them are Delta variant cases.
Saloma said Delta variant is dominant except in South America “where we still have a lot of Gamma cases.”
The Philippines has recorded 807 Delta cases so far.
Saloma said the last two batches of specimen sequenced in August 11 and 12 detected 359 Delta variant cases, way higher than the 142 cases of Alpha variant, 125 cases of Beta variant, and 54 cases of P.3 variant surveilled during the same two days.
Of the 807 Delta variant cases in the country, 771 have recovered while 17 died. The active Delta variant cases stands at 14.
The Department of Health has said that the Delta variant can infect up to eight people in one setting.
Independent group OCTA Research said the Delta variant is the primary threat in the country.
