Health officials reported the detection of 116 more cases of the highly infectious COVID-19 Delta variant Thursday.
Of the additional 116 Delta variant cases, 95 were local cases, and only one was confirmed as a returning Filipino from overseas. The remaining 20 cases were still being verified, the Department of Health (DOH) said.
Of the 95 local cases, 83 cases had an indicated address in the National Capital Region (NCR), while three had indicated addresses in Calabarzon. Four were from Central Visayas, two from the Davao Region, and one each from the Zamboanga Peninsula, Cagayan Valley, and Ilocos Region. All cases have been tagged as recovered.
Among the total 216 Delta variant cases reported on July 29, the DOH verified one case who was tested in two different laboratories.
Both samples were sent to UP-PGC, sequenced after an anonymized selection, and detected with the Delta variant. With this, the DOH is amending the previous total Delta variant cases from 216 to 215.
This brings the total Delta variant cases to 331.
Of the additional 113 Alpha variant cases detected, 104 were local cases, one ROF, and eight are currently being verified if they are a local or ROF case.
Based on the case line list, two cases have died and 111 cases have been tagged as recovered.
The new tally brings the total Alpha variant cases to 1,968.
Of the additional 122 Beta variant cases, 104 were local cases, four were returning Filipinos and 14 cases were being verified.
All cases have been tagged as recovered. The total Beta variant cases are now at 2,268.
The variants were detected through genome sequencing undertaken by the Philippine Genome Center.
An infectious disease expert, meanwhile, said the mutations of the Lamda variant are similar to those of the Delta variant.
The Lambda variant was first detected in Peru, while the Delta variant was first detected in India.
In a radio interview, Dr. Rontgene Solante said the Lambda variant, which has not yet been detected in the Philippines, remains to be a variant of interest and not a variant of concern like the Delta, Alpha, Beta, and Gamma.
The Philippines on Thursday logged 8,127 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total number of infections to 1,627,816.
The DOH reported 196 new fatalities, bringing the COVID-19 death toll to 28,427.
The DOH also reported 4,343 persons who recently recovered, bringing the total recoveries to 1,532,494.
There were 66,895 active cases, of which 94.6 percent were mild, 1 percent were asymptomatic, 1.1 percent were critical, 1.9 percent were severe, and 1.3 percent were moderate.
The active cases are the highest recorded since May 3.
Nationwide, 60 percent of the ICU beds, 53 percent of the isolation beds, 53 percent of the ward beds, and 41 percent of the ventilators, were in use.
In Metro Manila, 58 percent of the ICU beds, 52 percent of the isolation beds, 50 percent of the ward beds, and 41 percent of the ventilators, were in use.