The Philippines on Thursday reported 97 more cases of the highly contagious Delta variant of coronavirus, as government refused to lock down the capital region.
Of the new reported Delta variant cases, 88 were local ones, the Department of Health said. Six others were Filipinos from abroad while three others are still under verification.
Ninety-four of the new Delta variant cases have been tagged as "recovered," while three others were reported dead, the DOH said. The new infections bring the total number of Delta variant cases in the country to 216.
It was only last week that health authorities confirmed the local transmission of the highly contagious Delta variant--which is sweeping across Southeast Asia.
President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday refused calls to implement an early lockdown in Metro Manila and nearby areas to control the spread of the virus with his spokesperson defending the choice as a policy decision based on science.
Of the six new Delta variant cases from abroad, the DOH said two were seafarers of MT Clyde and Barge Claudia, currently anchored off in Albay, and four were from crew members of MV Vega that arrived from Indonesia.
The DOH urged local government units to boost its contact tracing efforts to thwart the spread of the more transmissible variant of coronavirus.
"It is imperative for local government units to immediately crush clusters of infection and observed increases in cases in their respective jurisdictions to reduce transmission," it said.
Malacañang on Thursday said initial community quarantine protocols announced for August may be subject to change depending on the pandemic situation.
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