Authorities have detected 182 additional cases of the more transmissible Delta variant of the coronavirus, raising the total to 807, the Department of Health reported yesterday.
In a statement, the DOH said that aside from the Delta variant, there were also new cases of the Alpha variant (41), Beta (66), Theta (40), and the first case of Lambda variant, based on the latest whole-genome sequencing report of the University of the Philippines-Philippine Genome Center and the University of the Philippines-National Institutes of Health.
Of the 182, the 112 are local cases, 36 are returning overseas Filipino, and 34 are being verified if they are local or ROF cases.
One is still active, 176 have been tagged as recovered, four died, and one case is being verified.
Of the 112 local cases, 42 cases had indicated addresses in the National Capital Region, 36 cases are from Central Luzon, eight cases from Calabarzon, six cases from Mimaropa, six cases from Northern Mindanao, four from Central Visayas, three from Davao Region, three in Caraga, two in Western Visayas, and one case each in the Cordillera Administrative Region and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
Other details are being validated by regional and local health offices.
“Upon verification, it was determined that two cases that were initially tagged as Delta cases from NCR on Aug. 4 were Beta variant cases,” the DOH said.
Meanwhile, of the new 41 Alpha variant cases, 38 were local cases, one was an ROF, and two were being verified.
Two have died, 36 recovered, and three were being verified.
To date, cases of the Alpha variant, first detected in the United Kingdom, stood at 2,232.
For the 66 new Beta variant cases, 56 were local cases and 10 cases being verified as either local or ROF cases. Two have died, 63 recovered, and one outcome under verification.
The Lambda variant case is a 35-year-old female but is still unknown if it is a local or an ROF case.
She was asymptomatic and tagged as recovered after undergoing the 10-day isolation period.
The DOH is currently conducting back tracing the contacts.
The Lambda variant, first identified in Peru in August 2020, was classified as a Variant of Interest by the World Health Organization on June 14, 2021.
The DOH reiterated to the public that strict adherence to the minimum public health standards, strengthened Prevent-Detect-Isolate-Treat-Reintegrate strategy, and vaccination, are effective regardless of any variant of concern.
RECOVERIES
Meanwhile, the country’s overall tally of Covid-19 patients who have beaten the disease reached 1,608,528 as 10,720 new recoveries were recorded yesterday.
The DOH said the figure was equivalent to a 92.4-percent recovery rate from a total of 1,741,616 infections since the start of the pandemic last year.
The DOH also tallied 14,749 new confirmed infections, bringing the total number of active cases in the country to 102,748, or 5.9 percent of all cases.
Of the active cases, 95.9 percent are mild, 1.1 percent are asymptomatic, 1.3 percent are severe, 0.93 percent are moderate, and 0.8 percent are in critical condition.
Also logged were 270 new fatalities, raising the death toll to 30,340, or 1.74 percent of the total cases.
The DOH said 364 duplicates were removed from the total case count as 360 of those were actually recoveries.
Five cases previously tagged as recoveries have been validated to be active cases and 141 cases logged as recoveries were reclassified as deaths after final validation.
According to the DOH data on Aug. 13, about 23.5 percent of 59,857 who were tested turned out positive for Covid-19.
To date, 70 percent of 3,900 intensive care unit beds, 60 percent of 20,100 isolation beds, 61 percent of 13,600 ward beds, and 51 percent of 3,000 ventilators dedicated to patients with Covid-19 are in use nationwide.*PNA
