THE DEPARTMENT of Health (DoH) is already studying whether there is already a community transmission of the more contagious coronavirus Delta variant, the type that is ravaging southeast Asian countries.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario S. Vergeire told a virtual press briefing Monday that they are waiting for the “phylogenetic analysis” of the Philippine Genome Center to establish local transmission.
Ms. Vergeire earlier explained that there is a community transmission when health authorities “do not see any linkage of the cases anymore.”
Of the 55 new Delta cases reported on Sunday, 37 were local patients, 17 were returning migrant Filipinos and one was still being verified, DoH said.
Fourteen of the 37 were in Southern Luzon, eight in Northern Mindanao, six each in the capital region and Central Luzon, two in the Davao Region and one in Ilocos.
Meanwhile, the Health official confirmed that only nine of the total 119 Filipinos infected with the Delta variant were vaccinated against the coronavirus.
Of the nine vaccinated, four received two doses, while five received one dose, she said. Of those fully vaccinated, three had mild coronavirus symptoms while one was asymptomatic. Three of those who received initial doses were mild cases and two did not show symptom.
More than 20 Delta variant cases were unvaccinated while 86 cases are still being verified.
Meanwhile, DoH reported 6,664 coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infections on Monday, bringing the total to 1.55 million.
Ms. Vergeire said the increase in additional cases nationwide could not be classified yet as a new surge.
“Cases are going up, that we can verify,” she said.
The death toll rose to 27,247 after 23 more patients died, while recoveries increased by 5,766 to 1.47 million, it said in a bulletin.
There were 55,140 active cases, 93.6% of which were classified as mild, 1.1% were asymptomatic, 2.3% were severe, 1.61% were moderate and 1.4% were critical. — Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza