Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 6) — COVID-19 variants of concern are still not dominant in the country, the Philippine Genome Center said Tuesday.
Dr. Cynthia Saloma, Executive Director of the PGC, told a virtual briefing that they have sequenced a total of 4,751 samples since January. Of this, 4,050 were found to have a virus lineage, but those that belong from variants of concern only represent around 9.9%, she noted.
“Sa Pilipinas, naitala na natin dati pa na ang pinaka marami dito sa 4,000 sequences na nagawa na natin are not really the variants of concern. Itong mga Hong Kong at UAE variants, iyon talaga ang pinaka marami sa ating bansa,” she explained.
[Translation: In the Philippines, we’ve recorded even before that majority of the 4,000 sequences we did are not really the variants of concern. These Hong Kong and UAE variants, these are the majority in the country.]
Of the variants of concern, 237 of the samples had B.1.1.7 variant or the strain first found in the United Kingdom, 163 had the B.1.351 variant also known as the South Africa variant, and one had the P.1 variant, also called the Brazil variant. Meanwhile, she did not specify how many of the samples contained the so-called Hong Kong and UAE variants.
These were tagged as variants of concern since they are more transmissible compared to other strains. Based on studies, some may also cause severe cases and higher possibility of death, while some may lower efficacy of vaccines.
Meanwhile, Saloma said study is still ongoing regarding the P.3 variant that was first discovered in the Philippines. There is still no sufficient evidence that this causes severe symptoms or increases fatality, Saloma said, further noting that most of the patients who were infected by this exhibited only mild symptoms or were asymptomatic.
She said that of those they sequenced, 104 had the said variant.
The World Health Organization and the Department of Health are working together to look into this variant, which could take several months.
To date, total COVID-19 infections in the country have breached the 800,000 mark, with more than 143,000 active cases.
The surge is believed to be due to the presence of more transmissible variants, apart from increased complacency among Filipinos that was further fueled by the start of the government’s vaccination program.
