571 more Delta cases reported; still no Omicron —DOH

The Philippines has reported an additional 571 cases of the more transmissible Delta coronavirus variant, bringing the total to 7,848, according to the Department of Health (DOH) on Monday.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said of the latest run that sequenced 629 samples, one also tested positive for the Beta variant while another tested positive for the Alpha variant.

The country has recorded a total of 3,630 Beta variant cases and 3,168 Alpha variant cases.

Data from the DOH showed that Delta remains to be the most common lineage in the country among sequenced samples at 40.54%, followed by Beta at 18.75%, and Alpha at 16.36%.

The Philippines has sequenced a total of 19,305 samples assigned with a lineage.

Meanwhile, Vergeire said the Philippines has yet to detect the Omicron variant, a variant of concern that has 50 mutations with at least 30 mutations in spike protein.

“Out of all of those samples tested in this latest whole-genome sequencing run, wala pong na-detect na Omicron variant [we did not detect the Omicron variant]. Most of the detections were that of the Delta variant,” Vergeire said in a media briefing.

The DOH on Sunday logged 603 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the nationwide tally to 2,834,775 and active cases to 13,853.  —KBK, GMA News