The Department of Health (DOH) on Saturday, Aug. 21, said a community transmission of the highly infectious Delta coronavirus variant is likely present in the country but that more evidence is needed before it can be officially declared.
"Base po dun sa nakukuha nating samples and the results coming from the Philippine Genome Center, mukhang ‘yan po talaga ‘yung pinapakita na that the community transmission is there. (Based on the samples that we are getting and the results coming from the Philippine Genome Center, it looks like that's what it is showing, that a community transmission is there)," DOH Undersecretary and spokesperson Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a virtual public briefing.
"But as I always say, mula pa naman po noong umpisa (from the beginning), we treat it already as if there is community transmission," she reiterated.
Vergeire said the DOH needed "enough" evidence before it can officially declare that a community transmission of the Delta variant is already present in the country.
"Kailangan lang natin ng enough evidence before we can officially declare. But definitely, the government has already pursued actions when it comes to this transmission level sa ating bansa at talagang ‘yun na po ang naging aksyon natin mula pa noong umpisa (We just need enough evidence before we can officially declare. But definitely, the government has already pursued actions when it comes to this transmission level in our country and that is really what we have been doing since the start)," she added.
PGC Executive Director Cynthia Saloma in a radio interview on Saturday confirmed that a community transmission of the Delta variant is happening in the country.
Last Aug. 16, Saloma also said that the highly transmissible Delta variant of SARS-COV2 has already overtaken the other strains that have been detected in the country.
"Dati marami tayong Beta at tsaka Alpha. Ngayon po sa ating mga samples na nai-sequence, pinakamarami na po and Delta variant (We used to have a lot of Beta and Alpha cases. Now there are more Delta cases in the samples we have sequenced)," she said.