WHO: Delta variant is ‘dominant’ in the Philippines

Confirmed most cases of COVID-19 in the Philippines today are the more contagious Delta variant.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said Tuesday that Delta is the most dominant variant in the country.

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According to WHO Country Representative Dr. Rabindra Abeyasinghe, more than 70 percent of the COVID-19 case infection in the Philippines can be attributed to such variant.

There is also community transmission or spread in Delta variant communities, according to Abeyasinghe.

“Most certainly… With this kind of transmission, with this kind of numbers, we are in community transmission,” he said.

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Earlier, infectious disease specialist Dr. Rontgene Solante that the Delta variant is possibly widespread throughout the Philippines due to the visible infections of COVID-19 in families.

According to the latest report of the Philippine Genome Center, the total number of Delta variant cases in the Philippines has hit 1,789.

This is in the face of the facility’s limited capacity to see what variant is in the COVID-19 samples.

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The total number of COVID-19 cases in the Philippines has hit 1.9 million after the Department of Health (DOH) recorded a record-high 22,366 new cases on Monday.

WHO: Delta variant is ‘dominant’ in the Philippines

The University of the Philippines (UP) COVID-19 Response Team warned that up to 30,000 daily COVID-19 cases in September.

According to Prof Jomar Rabajante, in the simulations conducted by their team, the chances of the COVID-19 cases decreasing due to previous interventions appear to be small.

COVID-19 cases may peak at the end of September or October and then decrease.

He said the study by the UP COVID-19 Pandemic Response Team showed that, unlike the previous lockdowns, human activity continues even though their area has been enhanced in community quarantine.

According to the group, up to 4 million COVID-19 cases could hit the Philippines before the end of 2021.

Rabajante, on the other hand, stressed that vaccination helps against the increase in cases, which can be seen in the hospitalization rate in the National Capital Region.

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