Philippines reports highest daily cases of COVID-19 since April 17

The Philippines' Department of Health (DOH) on Saturday reported 11,021 new COVID-19 infections, the highest daily cases since April 17, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the Southeast Asian country to 1,649,341.

The death toll climbed to 28,835 after 162 more patients died from the viral disease, the DOH added.Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the DOH expects the COVID-19 cases to rise in the coming days due to the emergence of the highly infectious Delta variant and other coronavirus strains.

"We are now seeing the effect of the Delta variant in our country, and our projections show that cases will continue to rise," Vergeire said in a televised press conference on Saturday.

She said the government is "now acting as if there is already community transmission of the Delta variant," adding that the government's imposition of a two-week hard lockdown in Metro Manila since Friday is to delay the further increase of cases.

The country has detected 450 Delta cases, mostly in Metro Manila, based on limited genome sequencing.The Philippines, which has around 110 million population, has tested over 16 million people since the outbreak in January 2020. (ANI/Xinhua)

( With inputs from ANI )

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