MANILA, Philippines — (Updated 7:00 p.m.) Health officials on Thursday reported 97 new cases of the more infectious Delta variant of COVID-19 to push the country's total to 216.
The Department of Health said 88 of the additional infections are local cases, six are returning Filipinos from overseas and three still up for verification.
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Authorities added that 94 cases have already been tagged as recovered. The number of fatalities has stood at 8, while there are 16 active cases remaining, per the DOH.
The Philippines last week confirmed there is now local transmission of the Delta variant. That has since stirred calls among experts for a two-week lockdown in the capital region.
Of the new cases, Central Visayas had the highest at 32, Metro Manila with 25, and Eastern Visayas with 10.
The health agency added that the six ROFs are crew members of vessels coming from Indonesia.
Two were seafarers of the MT Clyde and barge Claudia, docked in Albay, and four from the MV Vega.
Apart from Delta cases, the country also tallied 127 infections from the Beta, or the variant first detected in South Africa.
There were 83 cases of the Alpha as well, or that first seen in the United Kingdom. DOH added it detected 22 of the P.3, or the homegrown variant that has since been downgraded to "alerts under monitoring."