Eighty-three percent of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) random samples sequenced and analyzed in August were found to be of the highly transmissible Delta variant, Philippine Genome Center (PGC) Executive Director Cynthia Saloma said on Friday, Sept. 3.
"Nationally, 48 percent ng ating samples ay puros na po (of our samples were purely) Delta variant. So that's 48 percent of about 2,582 samples which were collected in July. In August, tumataas pa po ito pero kaunti pa lang yung bilang ng mga swabs na naitala natin (Delta cases were still increasing but the number of swabs we have recorded was less than the samples in July)," Saloma said in a virtual public briefing.
She said that 83 percent of the 542 samples analyzed in August were of the Delta variant.
Saloma also noted that the whole genome sequencing of COVID-19 samples in Metro Manila shows that a community transmission is happening in the region.
"Kung titignan naman natin in the National Capital Region , yung mga samples marami po tayong na-analyze noong July na mga 593. Makikita natin yung total of 76 percent of 593 cases na sequenced samples from the National Capital Region yung Delta variant. Mas marami pa po greater than 90 percent of the cases na na-collect nitong August sa NCR (In NCR, we were able to analyze 593 samples in July. We saw that 76 percent of the 593 sequenced samples from the NCR were of the Delta variant. There were even more, greater than 90 percent of the cases collected this August in NCR)," she added.
"Definitely, based on the phylogenetic analysis and tracing of samples, makikita po natin very clearly na yung National Capital Region is undergoing community transmission of Delta variant, and also in Calabarzon (we can see very clearly that the National Capital Region is undergoing community transmission of Delta variant, as well as in Calabarzon)," Saloma said.
She said that the PGC is still conducting samplings in other regions, particularly Regions 3, 6, 7, and 10, to determine the prevalence of Delta community transmission.
The World Health Organization on Aug. 31 confirmed the community transmission of the more contagious Delta variant in the Philippines.