Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, December 6) — No cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant were found in the 629 samples recently checked by the Philippine Genome Center, the Department of Health said on Monday.
Samples from the COVID-positive traveler who arrived from South Africa and 11 returning overseas Filipinos are now undergoing genomic sequencing. The results are expected by Wednesday, according to Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire.
The health official said three foreign nationals and one returning overseas Filipino based in Western Visayas who earlier tested positive for COVID-19 were retested on Dec. 1 and came out with negative test results.
DOH earlier reported that three travelers from South Africa, Burkina Faso, and Egypt tested positive for COVID-19 upon arrival in the country. It is not clear if they are the same foreigners who were retested and cleared.
“Out of all of those samples tested in the latest genome sequencing run, wala pong na-detect na [We didn’t detect] Omicron variant, most of the detections were that of the Delta variant,” she said in a media briefing.
In the latest genome sequencing run, the Philippine Genome Center detected 571 Delta cases, one Beta, and one Alpha variant case. Delta remains as the most dominant variant in the country with 7,848 cases or over 40% of the total sequenced samples.
The Philippines remains on high alert after at least 42 countries and territories reported Omicron cases.
The government banned flights — except those carrying Filipino repatriates — coming from South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Eswatini, and Mozambique, Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, and Italy until Dec. 15 as a preemptive measure against Omicron.
The World Health Organization said it is still unclear whether Omicron is more easily spread or if it causes more severe disease than other variants of concern. But preliminary evidence suggests there may be an increased risk of reinfection with Omicron, it added.
