MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines has 633 new cases of the highly contagious Delta variant of COVID-19, the Department of Health said on Monday citing latest whole genome sequencing results.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire reported the additional Delta infections accounted for 84.63% of the 748 samples tested on October 16, which she added were also collected recently.
Small numbers of other variants were also seen, or three cases of the Alpha first identified in the United Kingdom, and six of the Beta which originated in South Africa.
To date, Vergeire said the Philippine Genome Center has screened 17,147 samples where 15,168 or 88.46% had lineages.
Central Luzon saw the most number of new Delta infections at 140, followed by the National Capital Region at 107.
Other top reporting regions were Calabarzon and Cagayan Valley both with 74 more cases of the said variant, as well as Cordillera Administrative Region with 71.
As it stands, the Philippines now has 4,431 overall Delta cases, 3,313 of the Beta, and 2,938 of the Alpha.
The Delta variant appears to remain the most dominant detected in the country.
Vergeire added that all regions in the Philippines, as well as all Metro Manila cities and its lone municipality, have reported cases of the variant.