The DOH released a statement about the COVID-19 variant first detected in India.
The Department of Health (DOH) on Tuesday officially released a statement about the COVID-19 variant first detected in India.
In a statement on Tuesday, the Department of Health clarified that based on the technical definitions set by the World Health Organization (WHO), the COVID-19 variant first detected in India (B.1.617 variant) was classified as a “variant under investigation (VUI)” and not as a “variant of concern (VOC)”.
The health department’s clarification was made in response to the headline “Duque: No travel ban for now as India variant not yet one ‘of concern’” falsely conveying that a travel ban had not been imposed in the Philippines because Health Secretary Francisco Duque III didn’t consider the COVID-19 variant as a matter of utmost importance.
According to DOH, the statements were made in response to two different questions.
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Duque had clarified in the interview that the travel restrictions for Returning Overseas Filipinos (ROFs) and Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) were yet to be discussed in the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) while existing travel restrictions for foreigners had been in place since the beginning of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) for NCR+ Bubble.
Meanwhile, when asked about the characteristics of the said variant, Duque said that the B.1.617 variant had not satisfied the WHO criteria for it to be classified as a “variant of concern”.
Despite this, the Department of Health continued to monitor the said variant — along with all other COVID-19 variants — in order to ensure immediate and appropriate response.
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