The Philippines has confirmed its first death and locally transmitted cases of the more infectious Delta coronavirus variant, the health ministry said on Friday, as the country attempts to ramp up its vaccination drive with almost 400,000 people injected on Thursday.
Of the 16 new COVID-19 cases found to have contracted the Delta variant, 11 were tagged as locally acquired, Health Under-secretary Maria Rosario Vergeire told a news conference.
One of the patients with the variant died after being rushed to a hospital in Manila, the capital, on June 28, Vergeire said.
Five of those who tested positive were Filipinos returning from the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and the United Kingdom.
The Philippines is to exempt people aged 60 or older who have been fully vaccinated from stay-at-home orders to encourage more to get inoculated and help authorities meet COVID-19 immunization targets, officials said yesterday.
People aged 60 or older living in areas under looser quarantine restrictions would be allowed to go out from Wednesday, but would still need to wear masks, face shields and practice social distancing, presidential spokesman Harry Roque said in a statement.
People aged 60 or older, who account for four-fifths of COVID-19 deaths in the nation, were among priority groups in the government’s vaccination drive that began on
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