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55 new Delta variant cases raise total to 119; 103 recovered

By Leilanie Adriano and Ma. Teresa Montemayor

July 25, 2021, 7:36 pm

MANILA – Fifty-five additional cases of the more transmissible Delta variant of the coronavirus, first detected in India, were confirmed by the Department of Health (DOH) on Sunday.

Aside from the Delta variant, the DOH said in a statement that new cases of the Alpha variant (94), Beta variant (179), and Theta variant (9) were similarly detected, based on the latest whole-genome sequencing report by the University of the Philippines-Philippine Genome Center (UP-PGC), and the University of the Philippines-National Institutes of Health (UP-NIH).

So far, the country’s total number of Delta cases is 119.

Overall, 103 recovered, 12 are recuperating and four have died, including one of the 55.

Thirty-seven of the 55 new cases were local cases with indicated addresses -- 14 from Calabarzon, eight from Northern Mindanao, six from the National Capital Region, six from Central Luzon, two from Davao Region, and one from the Ilocos Region.

The remaining 17 were Returning Overseas Filipinos (ROFs), and one case was being verified whether it is a local or ROF case.

Confirmed

Ilocos Norte Governor Matthew Marcos Manotoc confirmed via his official Facebook page on Sunday that the province has one Delta variant case.

“This is what we have suspected of late as the virus [transmission] in the province is clearly not acting like how it used to,” Manotoc said.

As of July 24, almost 17,000 Ilocos Norte residents were already fully vaccinated while there are still doses for 30,000 more.

“I'm calling upon the private medical sector, which I have been in touch with, to help us roll out these vaccines as fast and as wide as possible,” the governor added.

According to DOH Region 1, a total of 519,773 vaccine doses have been delivered to the provinces of the Ilocos Region as of July 21.

Pangasinan received the most vaccines with 156,328 doses; followed by La Union and Ilocos Sur, each with 108,830 and 106,852; Ilocos Norte got 106,107; and Dagupan City has 41,656.

Ilocos Norte still has 2,060 active Covid-19 cases.

Other variants

Of the new 94 Alpha variant cases, 87 were local cases, one ROF, and six were under verification.

Based on the case line list, one remains active, two cases have died, and 91 cases were tagged as recovered.

To date, the Alpha variant, first detected in the United Kingdom, was seen in 1,773 cases in the Philippines.

For the 179 Beta variant cases, 168 were local cases, four ROFs, and seven cases were being verified.

Two are still active, one died, 175 have recovered, and one was being verified. The total Beta variant cases is now at 2,019.

All new nine P.3 variant cases are local cases and have recovered.

While the P.3 variant has been reclassified as “alert for further monitoring”, it is still being investigated and information are continually collected to monitor its public health implication.

The total P.3 variant cases is at 244.

To date, the UP-PGC has sequenced a total of 9,351 samples.

Health authorities urged the public anew to strictly adhere to stricter minimum public health standards and continue to avoid enclosed spaces and mass gatherings with the detection of local cases with the Delta variant and other variants of concern. (PNA)

 

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