No confirmation yet of Philippine COVID-19 variant, says official

MANILA - The presence of a local variant of the novel coronavirus in the Philippines has yet to be confirmed, a COVID-19 response official and infectious disease expert said Saturday.

National Task Force Against COVID-19 spokesperson Restituto Padilla said in an interview on Saturday that the Philippine Genome Center is still studying some mutations that may be unique to the Philippines.

“'Yan po ay hindi pa inaanunsiyo nang opisyal at patuloy pa nilang sinusundan kaya kinakailangan 'yung ating pagsusuri ng test samples na nakukuha natin sa mga kinukuhanan ng swab ay gawing mas masusi,” Padilla said in an interview on TeleRadyo.

(That has yet to be officially announced and they continue to follow that and that is why testing of samples should be done thoroughly.)

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Dr. Rontgene Solante, head of San Lazaro Hospital’s Adult Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine Department, echoed this, saying the Philippine Genome Center has yet to confirm the supposed new variant.

“I think they are still waiting for confirmation if this is really a new variant and consider as a local variant that is quite different from the other variants. We need to still wait for the confirmation of the Philippine Genome Center,” said Solante.

But Solante said the one under examination may be unique from other COVID-19 variants.

“Because when they looked at the genomic sequence, there are sequences there that is quite not found in the other variants. If that is different from the other variants that is circulating like the UK, the South African, the Brazilian, then they will really confirm that as a new variant,” Solante said.

• OCTA projects over 6,500 new daily COVID-19 cases in PH by end-March

In a separate TeleRadyo interview, Solante said it's important to determine if this variant behaves like that of the South African, the UK, and the Brazil variants which are known to be more transmissible.

• DOH confirms detection of 2 SARS-CoV-2 mutations in Region 7

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Last month, the Department of Health said it is investigating two mutations of the SARS-CoV-2 in Central Visayas to determine whether these will have significant public health implications.

The Philippines on Friday reported a total of 611,618 cases of COVID-19, including 52,012 active cases. The number of active cases over the past few days have surpassed the 4,000 mark. On Friday, there were 4,578 active cases, the highest so far this year.

To stem the further spread of the virus , Metro Manila mayors agreed to reimpose a curfew for two weeks beginning Monday. The OCTA Research Group warned that new daily COVID-19 cases could reach 6,000 by the end of the month.

• PH logs 4,578 new COVID-19 cases, highest so far in 2021

Solante stressed the importance of strictly following minimum health protocols to prevent the spread of the virus especially in the workplace, in malls, and in public transport.

“The point here, we need to vaccinate before the variant overtakes us with further mutation because the vaccine is still effective against this variant and the only way to stop the further mutation is to develop immunity against infection,” he said.

Padilla said government is doing everything to ensure the safety of the public as the country slowly eases restrictions to revive the economy.

“Mahirap lang sabihin na 'yung ating ginawang mga hakbang sa pagpaluwag ay nakadulot na rin sa pagtaas ng mga kaso. Malamang nagse-settle na 'yung tinatawag na pandemic fatigue so 'yung diligent implementation ay kailangan nating balikan,” Padilla said.

(It's hard to say that the move to ease restrictions is actually contributing to the spike in COVID-19 cases. Probably, the pandemic fatigue have settled in and we need to diligently implement health protocols.)

He said the NTF would continue to strictly enforce last year’s strategy of prevention, isolation, treatment and reintegration to curb the spread of the virus.

But Padilla said reverting to a stricter quarantine is not an option now. He is optimistic that with the public’s help, COVID-19 cases would decrease.

“Kung sakali, 'wag naman sanang mangyari na kung ang bilang di bumaba at hindi gagalaw at patuloy pa rin po ang pagtaas doon tayo magkakaroon ng decision kung kinakailangan nating maghigpit,” said Padilla.

(I hope it doesn't happen but if the numbers keep rising then that's when we decide if we need to tighten restrictions.)