Vergeire said 17 Delta cases remain active, nine have died, and the remaining 190 have recovered. Of the 17 active cases, 15 are local cases and two are ROFs. (Photo from Inquirer) |
[Asia News = Reporter Reakkana] MANILA— The country has so far detected 165 local cases of the Delta variant of COVID-19, the Department of Health (DOH) said Monday as it assumes that there is already community transmission of the highly transmissible variant in the country, PH Inquirer reported.“Based on type, 165 are local cases, 48 are returning overseas Filipinos (ROFs) and three are being verified if they are local or returning overseas Filipinos,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said of the 216 total Delta variant cases in an online media briefing.
Vergeire said 17 Delta cases remain active, nine have died, and the remaining 190 have recovered. Of the 17 active cases, 15 are local cases and two are ROFs. But despite the large number of local cases that were detected, Vergeire said the DOH still needs sufficient evidence to declare that there is already community transmission of the Delta variant that was first detected in India and is causing a surge of infections in other nations.
However, she pointed out that the DOH assumes that community transmission is already happening to trigger better management of COVID-19 cases. “We need sufficient evidence for us to declare that there is already community transmission because there are international implications for this and we also have international definitions that we align to,” she said.