The Department of Health (DOH) on Monday, August 23 recorded 466 new cases of Delta variant and confirmed that the community transmission is taking place in Metro Manila
According to DOH, of this number of new cases, 422 were local cases, 14 are Returning Overseas Filipinos (ROFs) and 10 are still being verified if local or ROF cases.
Of the 422 local cases, 201 of them were detected in the National Capital Region (NCR), followed by Central Luzon and Western Visayas with 69 and 52 respectively. Calabarzon recorded 49 new cases of Delta, 19 in Central Visayas, 14 in Mimaropa, 11 for Davao Region, 7 for Cagayan Valley and Soccsksargen, 6 in Northern Mindanao, 4 in Bicol Region and 3 local cases in Ilocos Region.
DOH said that the 457 cases have been tagged as recovered, one is still active, while eight have died.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a press briefing today that the community transmission is now observed in NCR and Calabarzon.
“Definitely, I can tell all of you, Region 4A and NCR na nandiyan na po, we can observe that already. Although we need further evidence, but there is community transmission already in these areas,” the Usec. said.
Health authorities said that was based on the two observations: 1. “Large numbers of Delta cases” 2. “Case investigations and phylogenetic analysis showed these cases cannot be epidemiologically linked to each other nor source/s of infection determined.”
Meanwhile, a total of 1,273 cases of Delta variant have been recorded in the Philippines.