Seventeen additional cases of the highly transmissible Delta variant of coronavirus have been detected in the Philippines, the Department of Health (DOH) said on Saturday, July 24.
The DOH said that of the 17 new Delta variant cases, 12 are local cases, one is a returning overseas Filipino (ROF), while four cases are currently being verified if these are local or ROF cases.
”Three cases remain active and 14 cases have been tagged as recovered. The outcomes are being validated by our regional and local health offices,” the DOH said in a statement.
“Of the 12 local cases, nine had an indicated address in the National Capital Region and three were in Calabarzon,” it added.
The total Delta variant cases in the Philippines currently stood at 64.
The DOH called on the local government units (DOH) to intensify its efforts against COVID-19 to stop the spread of the Delta variant.
“Following the announcement of a local transmission of the Delta variant, the DOH emphasized the need to ensure active case finding, aggressive contact tracing, increased risk-based and targeted testing, and the immediate isolation/quarantine of suspect/probable cases and close contacts,” it said.
“The public is advised to strictly adhere to the minimum public health standards, get vaccinated, and complete their doses as scheduled,” it added.
Meanwhile, the DOH also reported the detection of 11 new cases of Alpha variant, 13 more cases of Beta, and two additional cases of P.3, based on the latest batch of whole genome sequencing conducted by the Philippine Genome Center.
This brings the total Alpha variant cases in the country to 1,679, Beta variant cases now at 1,840, while P.3 variant cases stand at 235.