16 more Filipinos infected with Delta variant

Sixteen more Filipinos have been infected with the more contagious Delta coronavirus variant, bringing the total to 35, according to the Department of Health (DoH). 

Five of the 16 were returning migrant Filipinos, while 11 were locals, the agency said in a statement on Friday. 

One of the workers arrived in the Philippines on April 26 from the United Kingdom and has since recovered after a 14-day quarantine. Two arrived in the Philippines on June 15 from Qatar and have also recovered. Information on the other two were still being verified. 

Of the 11 local cases, six were detected in Northern Mindanao, two in the National Capital Region and two in Western Visayas. 

All of them have recovered, except for one patient from Metro Manila who died after being rushed to the hospital on June 28, DoH said. 

One other patient who was initially tested in the metro but had an address in Central Luzon has also recovered. 

Of the 11 cases, nine had tested positive between June 23 and 28, while two tested positive on May 27, the agency said. 

Health authorities said they were coordinating with the Centers for Health Development and local governments for contact tracing. The Bureau of Quarantine and Department of Transportation were on high alert to implement strict border controls. 

The Health department reported 5,676 coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infections on Friday, bringing the total to 1.496 million.  

The death toll rose to 26,476 after 162 more patients died, while recoveries increased by 2,670 to 1.421 million, it said in a bulletin.  

There were 48,480 active cases, 91.8% of which were classified as mild, 2.1% were asymptomatic, 2.6% were severe, 1.85% were moderate and 1.6% were critical. 

DoH said 13 duplicates had been removed from the tally, 10 of which were tagged as recoveries. Twenty-eight recoveries were reclassified as active cases and 116 recoveries were tagged as deaths. Three laboratories failed to submit data on July 14.