The Philippines health ministry has reported a record 18,332 Covid-19 infections and for the first time acknowledged community transmission of the highly contagious Delta variant of the virus in its capital region, Reuters reports.
Large numbers of Delta variant cases for which the source could not be traced have been detected in the capital region and nearby provinces, the health ministry said in a separate statement.
The country's genome centre said it had detected an additional 466 Delta variant cases, bringing the number of people confirmed to be carrying the variant to 1,273.
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