Delta variant reported in all Metro Manila cities, sole municipality
MANILA, Philippines — The highly contagious Delta variant of COVID-19 has been detected in all 17 cities and municipality in Metro Manila, the Department of Health said Friday.
“We detected Delta [in] all 17 cities and municipality in [National Capital Region],” the department told reporters in a Viber message.
The capital region returned to enhanced community quarantine Friday in an attempt to slow the spread of the more infectious Delta variant and ease pressure on hospitals.
Health authorities reported Thursday 116 new cases of the Delta variant, which was first discovered in India. Of the total, 83 were from Metro Manila.
So far, 331 cases of the Delta variant have been detected in the Philippines. There are fears the variant could ravage the country as it has in other parts of Southeast Asia.
But the DOH maintained there is still no community transmission of the variant in the country. Community transmission happens when health authorities can no longer see how cases are linked to one another.
The Delta variant was found to be between 40% and 60% more transmissible than the already highly infectious Alpha variant, which was first identified in the United Kingdom.
The Philippines has so far recorded 1.62 million COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began. Of the total, 4.1% are active cases.
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