Coronavirus: Philippines finds first local cases of Delta variant; Australia renews call for probe into pandemic’s origins
- Sixteen people had been found with the Delta variant, including five who had returned from the UAE, Qatar and Britain
- Elsewhere, Indonesia reported a record increase of 1,025 deaths from Covid-19 and a Vietnamese man was jailed for 18 months for spreading the virus to others
The country is battling one of the worst Covid-19 outbreaks in Asia, but infection numbers have been declining since peaking in March and April, allowing for a gradual relaxation of restrictions.
Sixteen people had been found with the Delta variant, including five who had returned from the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Britain between April and June, health undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire told a news conference.
The other 11 were locally acquired cases, including a cluster of five people in the southern city of Cagayan de Oro. One patient had died after being hospitalised in Manila on June 28.
“The spread of Covid-19 globally, while being controlled by vaccination, is still being driven by these variants of concern,” said Vergeire, as authorities announced a tightening of restrictions in Cagayan de Oro and Misamis Oriental province.
In May, the Philippines recorded its first Delta cases in two workers who returned from the United Arab Emirates and Oman.