Two COVID-19 variants were already present in “all cities in Metro Manila”, according to DOH.
The Department of Health (DOH) on Monday said that two COVID-19 variants were already present in “all cities in Metro Manila”.
In a press briefing, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said that they saw that those COVID-19 variants were in all cities here in Metro Manila.
“We saw that these variants are now in all cities here in Metro Manila. That is factual. In all of the cities, we have either the UK variant or the South Africa variant. Also in other cities, they have both UK variant and South Africa variant,” Vergeire said.
According to Vergeire, the COVID-19 variants helped drive the fresh surge in coronavirus cases but stressed that poor compliance with health protocols was the “root cause”.
However, Vergeire declined to confirm whether there’s already community transmission of the two COVID-19 variants in the Philippines.
Vergeire said that the Department of Health was still working with the World Health Organization (WHO) in order to verify the extent of the COVID-19 variants’ transmission.
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In a report on GMA News Online, the Philippines had so far detected the B.1.1.7 (UK COVID-19 variant) in 223 cases, the B.1.351 (South African COVID-19 variant) in 152 cases, and the P.1 (Brazil COVID-19 variant) in one case.
The COVID-19 variants possessed mutations that were linked to either increased transmissibility or immune escape, which could lead to lowered COVID-19 vaccine efficacy.
A new COVID-19 variant called P.3 was also recently discovered in the Philippines and it had been seen in more than 100 cases.
The Department of Health stressed that the P.3 COVID-19 variant was still “not identified as a variant of concern” as currently available data were insufficient to conclude whether the said variant would have significant public health implications.
Experts have said that coronavirus transmission must be contained in order to keep mutations down since “mutations occur as part of the natural process of virus evolution.”
The Philippines was battling a fresh surge in coronavirus infections that had been attributed to the spread of the new COVID-19 variants, increased mobility, and relaxed adherence to health protocols.
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