(UPDATED) Four more cases with the highly transmissible Delta variant of the Covid-19 virus and 36 other cases with other variants of concern have been detected in the Philippines.
In a statement Monday, June 21, 2021, the Department of Health (DOH) said the University of the Philippines - Philippine Genome Center (UP-PGC) and the UP National Institutes of Health (UP-NIH) found the Delta variant in samples taken from four returning overseas Filipinos (ROFs).
These brought the Delta variant cases in the Philippines to 17. The Delta variant was first identified in India.
Its B.1.617.2 sub-lineage has been found to be at least 60 percent more transmissible than the Alpha (B.1.1.7) variant.
“If a person with the Alpha variant can infect four or five other people, the Delta variant can be transmitted to around eight other people,” DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a press briefing Monday.
Dr. Cynthia Saloma, UP-PGC executive director, also said during the separate Malacañang press briefing that the Delta variant is associated with faster deterioration of symptoms and has twice the risk of hospitalization.
She assured, however, that all of the cases in the Philippines were immediately contained as these were detected in ports of entry and in quarantine areas.
Of the four new Delta variant cases, three were crew members of a ship currently docked in South Korea, MV Eastern Hope. They were repatriated on June 3 after they tested positive for Sars-CoV-2, the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).
Two cases have completed the 10-day isolation after arrival in the country and were discharged upon certification of recovery, while one is still admitted in a hospital in Metro Manila.
The fourth case is an ROF who arrived from Saudi Arabia on May 24, 2021, completed the mandated isolation period and was tagged as recovered on June 10, 2021. The ROF is now under strict home quarantine.
The DOH statement did not specify the location of these Delta variant cases. Vergeire said they were still confirming the permanent address of each patient.
The UP-PGC whole-genome sequencing report also reported 14 additional Alpha (B.1.1.7) variant cases, 21 Beta (B.1.351) variant cases, and one Theta (P.3) variant case.
The Alpha and Beta variants have been tagged as variants of concern by the World Health Organization while the Theta variant is considered a variant of interest since more data are needed to establish its public health significance.
Of the 14 additional Alpha variant cases, 12 are local cases while two are under verification. These brought the total Alpha cases in the country to 1,085.
Two had died while 12 have been tagged as recovered. The Alpha variant was first detected in the United Kingdom.
Among the 21 Beta variant cases detected, 20 are local cases while one case is being verified. One case is active while the rest have recovered.
The total Beta variant cases in the Philippines increased to 1,267. The Beta variant was first reported in South Africa.
The additional Theta variant case, which raised the total to 163 cases, is being verified as to whether it is a local or ROF case. The case has been tagged as recovered.
Meanwhile, the DOH said it granted P180 million to the UP-PGC in May 2021 for the procurement of reagents for whole genome sequencing to ensure that biosurveillance activities will continue for the rest of the year amid the increase in Covid-19 cases in the Visayas and Mindanao.
The reagents are expected to arrive this week, following the government procurement process.
Since January 2021, the UP-PGC has sequenced only 7,589 coronavirus-positive samples.(Marites Villamor-Ilano / SunStar Philippines)