Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, November 8) — The country reported its first case of the Kappa variant, but the patient was long tagged as recovered, a Health official said.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the patient was a local case from Floridablanca, Pampanga whose sample was taken back in June 2. The official said he only exhibited mild symptoms.
During the time of sample collection, Kappa was named a variant of interest. But in September, the World Health Organization downgraded it into a variant under monitoring.
The B.1.617.1 emerged from the same lineage as the Delta variant and is most commonly found in India, Vergeire said.
The case was detected late because the government is sequencing older samples to trace the source of the feared Delta variant.
The Health department also reported 651 more cases of the Delta variant from the 748 samples taken from March, April, May, June, September, and October. The country now has a total of 5,982 cases of the Delta variant, which was the driver of the surge back in September.
