MANILA, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) -- The Philippines' Department of Health (DOH) reported 18,937 new COVID-19 infections on Monday, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the Southeast Asian country to 2,385,616.

The DOH also reported 146 coronavirus-related deaths, raising the country's death toll to 36,934, as the highly infectious Delta variant continues to spread in the country.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the Delta variant detected increased from 5 percent in June to 89 percent of lineages detected in August.

The Delta variant is now "the most common lineage" among the more than 12,500 sequenced samples in the country, Vergeire said in an online briefing.

She said the number of cases in Metro Manila "continues to increase but at a slower rate," warning that the number of cases has not hit its peak.

DOH experts have projected cases to peak by the end of September or early October, while Vergeire said the projection could change.

She said that 97 areas in the country are classified under alert level 4, meaning that the hospital utilization rate is more than 70 percent.

On the COVID-19 related deaths, Vergeire said deaths in the country have been increasing since the last week of July, and a new peak was seen in mid-August.

She said the country's average daily deaths in August hit 155, exceeding those recorded in April this year, and partial data for September showed an average of 99 deaths per day.

The Philippines, which has around 110 million population, has tested nearly 19 million people since the outbreak in January 2020. Enditem

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