Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 8)— An infectious diseases expert said there may already be community transmission of the Omicron coronavirus variant as the country continues to record spikes in infections.
At the Laging Handa briefing on Saturday, Dr. Rontgene Solante, a member of the government’s vaccine expert panel, cited the “enormous” number of people getting infected in a short period of time.
“With the enormous number of people being positive with just a short duration of time, and most of them are manifesting with an upper respiratory tract symptoms, then I would say there is already a community transmission of Omicron variant,” Solante said.
The Philippines has recorded at least 43 cases of the highly transmissible variant, data from the Department of Health (DOH) as of Jan. 6 showed. The count includes local cases and returning overseas Filipinos.
The DOH has yet to issue a comment on the matter, but Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire earlier told CNN Philippines that the agency is already “assuming” that there is community spread of the variant in the country.
RELATED: DOH assumes Omicron community transmission; potential surge to surpass Delta peak
COVID-19 cases nationwide continue to rise, with the DOH reporting more than 21,000 fresh infections on Friday. The positivity rate — or percentage of tested people who yielded positive results — also reached a new record high of 40%.
‘More transmissible vs Delta’
Citing experts’ initial findings, Solante said that Omicron can be “three to five times” more transmissible than the Delta variant.
“You have to multiply… that’s the number of possible contacts na talagang pwede niyang mahawaan (that someone can infect) with a single interaction — especially in an enclosed space,” the expert said.
“That’s why we’re seeing a lot of these positives now, not only in the community, we’re also seeing a lot of these in the health care facilities,” he added.
