THE Department of Health (DOH) on Thursday, August 12, 2021, reported an additional 352 coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) cases caused by the more contagious variants of the novel coronavirus.
The newly sequenced cases include 177 Delta (B.1.617.2) variant cases, 102 Alpha (B.1.1.7) variant cases, 59 Beta (B.1.351) variant cases, and 14 P.3 variant cases.
Two more Delta cases died, raising the number of mortalities caused by this variant to 13.
There are now 627 Delta cases, 2,195 Alpha cases, 2,421 Beta cases and 301 P.3 (formerly Theta) cases in the country. There remained two Gamma (P.1) cases.
As of August 11, the University of the Philippines - Philippine Genome Center (UP-PGC) has sequenced 10,845 samples found positive for Sars-CoV-2, or 0.64 percent of the 1,688,040 confirmed Covid-19 cases.
Of the additional 177 Delta variant cases, 144 are local cases, three are returning overseas Filipinos (ROF) and 30 cases are being verified whether local or ROF.
The 144 local cases are from the National Capital Region (90), Calabarzon (25), Cagayan Valley (16), Ilocos Region (8), Cordillera (2), Western Visayas (2) and Davao Region (1).
One of these newly sequenced cases died while 173 were tagged as recovered. The DOH said it was verifying the outcomes of three other cases.
Of the additional 102 Alpha variant cases, 94 are local cases and eight are being verified.
Based on the case line list, one case is still active while 101 cases have been tagged as recovered.
Among the additional 59 Beta variant cases, 53 are local and six cases are being verified.
One case is still active, 57 cases have been tagged as recovered and one case is under verification.
Of the 14 additional P.3 variant cases, 13 are local and one case is being verified. Two cases died while 12 recovered.
A total of 224 cases with these variants had died. The DOH said 123 died from Alpha, 83 from Beta, 13 from Delta and five from P.3
There remained 51 cases: 19 with Alpha, 18 with Beta, 13 with Delta and one with P.3.
The DOH earlier said the Delta variant, which is the most contagious among these variants, has been detected in 13 out of 17 regions.
All 17 regions have either the Alpha or Beta variant while the P.3 has spread to 14 regions.
The Delta variant, which is believed to be driving this fresh surge in Covid-19 cases nationwide, can be transmitted to up to eight people at one time.
It contains mutations that causes a higher viral load, and raises the risk of hospitalization and death. (Marites Villamor-Ilano / SunStar Philippines)