WHO says Delta most dominant variant, confirms community transmission in Philippines

The World Health Organization (WHO) Philippines on Tuesday said the highly contagious Delta variant has become the dominant coronavirus variant in the country.

“The information we have clearly shows that now, already, the Delta variant has emerged as the dominant variant,” Dr. Rabindra Abeyasinghe, WHO Philippines country representative, told a news conference.

“With this kind of transmission, with these kinds of numbers, we are in community transmission of the Delta variant,” he added.

Community transmission means there is a clustering of cases and there are no longer links among infected individuals.

Abeyasinghe said nearly 70% of samples that were subjected to genome sequencing in the latest run tested positive for the Delta variant.

The Philippines has so far recorded 1,789 Delta cases, only 38 of which were active as of August 27. –KBK, GMA News